Pacific Wildlife Care wants to build a ‘new, permanent home’ in SLO. But it needs help
Pacific Wildlife Care is planning to build a new headquarters in San Luis Obispo, relocating from its current home in Morro Bay.
Founded in 1984, the nonprofit organization rescues and rehabilitates injured wildlife in San Luis Obispo County.
The nonprofit is currently located at 1387 Main St. on the retired Morro Bay Power Plant property. Texas-based energy company Vistra Corp applied to build a 600-megawatt battery plant on the site, and Pacific Wildlife Care’s license to use the space expires in December 2025, a news release said.
So, Pacific Wildlife Care is looking for a new home.
The nonprofit purchased a 10-acre parcel at the corner of Buckley Road and Esperanza Lane. There, it plans to build a 16,000-square-foot facility called the Kim and Derrel Ridenour Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.
The nonprofit is $2 million away from its fundraising goal of $11.5 million for the new facility, the news release said.
“The new Kim and Derrel Ridenour Wildlife Rehabilitation Center will not only provide a permanent home for our organization but will also significantly elevate the quality of care we offer,” Pacific Wildlife Care executive director Kristin Howland said in the news release. “This facility embodies our commitment to wildlife rehabilitation and reflects our vision for the future.”
The nonprofit is currently working on fundraising and acquiring building permits for the facility. The goal is to start construction at the start of 2025, Pacific Wildlife Care said.
New facility to have larger flight areas, enclosures
Pacific Wildlife Care treats 2,500 to 3,000 animals a year across 200 different species, the news release said. One goal of the new space is to minimize human interaction with the animals to ease their transition back into the wild, the release said.
“This cutting-edge center is designed with the welfare of wildlife at its core, allowing for better rehabilitation practices and quicker response times,” the release said.
The new facility will have 8,100 square feet of external animal enclosures, including flight areas where raptors can strengthen their wings before returning to the wild.
The facility will also include surgery and isolation areas for the animals, larger flight cages and space for volunteer training and public education.
The space is “designed to separate prey and predator species to minimize stress for best chances of rehabilitation,” the release said.
More than half of the nonprofit’s patients come from the South County and San Luis Obispo, so moving the facility from Morro Bay to San Luis Obispo will increase response times, the nonprofit said.
“The first 24 hours are the most crucial, and quicker response times make all the difference in an animal’s chances for survival,” the news release said.
Pacific Wildlife Care fundraising for new facility
Pacific Wildlife Care launched a fundraising effort to collect $11.5 million to build the new facility.
If the facility is not built in time, Pacific Wildlife Care will need to transfer its operations to a temporary site, send animals to be rehabilitated at the homes of trained volunteers, or, “as a last resort, scale back rescue and rehabilitation services and available programming,” the release said.
So far, the nonprofit has raised $5.7 million in donations and $3.8 million in legacy gifts — leaving $2 million to raise, the release said.
People can donate to the effort online at bit.ly/3ZBFyuW.
Pacific Wildlife Care’s goal is to start construction at the start of 2025 and complete the building before its license to operate in its current space ends in December 2025.
