Local Community Partners

Newsletter Announcement July 2021: Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue and True Wild Partnership

In April of 2021, Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue and True Wild entered into a partnership agreement to further enhance conservation efforts in Sonoma County.

True Wild is a conservation-focused company founded in 2019 by Dr. Quinton Martins and partners Liz Martins and Neil Martin. Quinton is a large predator specialist and conservation proponent, and he is the principal investigator for the “Living with Lions” program run by Audubon Canyon Ranch in Sonoma County.

SCWR has worked with Dr. Quinton Martins and Liz Martins since 2018. Liz Martins is Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue’s Educational Consultant and guides the educational aspects of our PEEP Education Program and Wildlife Education Exhibits. Dr. Quinton Martins has long been an excellent resource to our Wildlife Hotline and Wildlife Exclusion Services through Audubon Canyon Ranch’s Living with Lions project. The Puma Proof Pen that stands in our PEEP Barnyard as an example of a cost-effective solution for hobby farmers who are looking to protect their sheep and goats from large predator predation, was designed by both Dr. Quinton Martins and Liz Martins. Most recently, True Wild has consulted with and trained Sonoma County Wildlife's staff on the use of trail cameras to improve both our Wildlife Rescue capabilities and Wildlife Exclusion Service techniques.

Dr. Quinton Martins using a VHF antenna and receiver to track a collared mountain lion.

The work that True Wild does in Sonoma County complements SCWR’s projects, making them an ideal partner for us. The partnership is focused primarily on the important areas of Human-Wildlife Conflict, Wildlife Exclusion and Environmental Educational Opportunities.

True Wild has built a Visitors Center located at 13875 Sonoma Highway (Hwy 12) in Glen Ellen. The visitor’s center will showcase local conservation efforts, invite participation in local environmental activities as well as contributions towards conservation.

This kitten cub is designated “P16" in Audubon Canyon Ranch's Living with Lions program.

True Wild also organizes and leads unique African Safaris with the goal of connecting people to nature in an intimate and rewarding manner, contextualizing the experience, and enhancing people’s understanding about the natural world they live in.

True Wild’s Visitor Center will feature some of SCWR’s projects including a display of one of our Barn Owl boxes and information on how to participate in the Barn Owl Maintenance Program.

For more information about True Wild, visit their web site at www.truewild.org or stop at the True Wild Visitors Centre on Highway 12.

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Community Partner Spotlight August 2012: Aquascape Custom Crafted Pools

Back in 2010, a group of servicemen and women of the US Army Reserve 801st Engineering Company was at the Center to help us build our mountain lion enclosure.  As they were packing up their equipment and supplies, Executive Director Doris Duncan approached Sargent Tony McCoy about digging a pond for a future planned river otter facility.  Since Tony and his unit needed to move on to their next assignment, he recommended she get in touch with his good friend, Todd Hendrickson, an award-winning local pool builder and President of Aquascape Custom Crafted Pools in Petaluma. 

Doris contacted Todd and invited him to the Center to inspect the site.  Todd liked what he saw and began researching what it would take to design and build a pond suitable for otters.  

After a trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, much discussion with his wife and family, and enthusiastic response from his employees, Todd contacted SCWR with a remarkable offer to donate the labor to design and build the pond! 

With the number of otter rescue calls increasing, Doris jumped at the offer.  “The nearest facility is in Lake Tahoe,” she explained.  “Having a pond closer to the Bay and its tributaries reduces the stress on the animals.  The long drive to Tahoe is difficult on the animals and on our volunteers. This will be a facility that all California wildlife centers can utilize.” 

Working with Doris and her staff, Hendrickson designed a large pool with boulders and other unique features that allow the otters to swim and rest.  Volunteers from Aquascape and other companies dug the pool, laid rebar and other structural enforcement and sprayed gunnite to line the pool.

The pool was filled with water for the first time earlier this month.  A local Eagle Scout candidate is building the den house which will give the otters a warm and secure place to rest when not exercising in their new pond. 

“What started as a dream became an amazing collaboration with local businesses,” Doris commented.  “I’m amazed that a project of this size came together so smoothly and with such care and attention to the needs of these wonderful animals.”

Thank you Todd, his wife Leslie, their daughter Victoria, their son Lucas and the team at Aquascape Custom Crafted Pools for this exciting addition to our Center! 

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Community Spotlight June 2018: Palace of Fruit

Back in 2010, a group of servicemen and women of the US Army Reserve 801st Engineering Company was at the Center to help us build our mountain lion enclosure.  As they were packing up their equipment and supplies, Executive Director Doris Duncan approached Sargent Tony McCoy about digging a pond for a future planned river otter facility.  Since Tony and his unit needed to move on to their next assignment, he recommended she get in touch with his good friend, Todd Hendrickson, an award-winning local pool builder and President of Aquascape Custom Crafted Pools in Petaluma. 

Doris contacted Todd and invited him to the Center to inspect the site.  Todd liked what he saw and began researching what it would take to design and build a pond suitable for otters.  

After a trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, much discussion with his wife and family, and enthusiastic response from his employees, Todd contacted SCWR with a remarkable offer to donate the labor to design and build the pond! 

With the number of otter rescue calls increasing, Doris jumped at the offer.  “The nearest facility is in Lake Tahoe,” she explained.  “Having a pond closer to the Bay and its tributaries reduces the stress on the animals.  The long drive to Tahoe is difficult on the animals and on our volunteers. This will be a facility that all California wildlife centers can utilize.” 

Working with Doris and her staff, Hendrickson designed a large pool with boulders and other unique features that allow the otters to swim and rest.  Volunteers from Aquascape and other companies dug the pool, laid rebar and other structural enforcement and sprayed gunnite to line the pool.

The pool was filled with water for the first time earlier this month.  A local Eagle Scout candidate is building the den house which will give the otters a warm and secure place to rest when not exercising in their new pond. 

“What started as a dream became an amazing collaboration with local businesses,” Doris commented.  “I’m amazed that a project of this size came together so smoothly and with such care and attention to the needs of these wonderful animals.”

Thank you Todd, his wife Leslie, their daughter Victoria, their son Lucas and the team at Aquascape Custom Crafted Pools for this exciting addition to our Center! 

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 Community Spotlight March 2013: Lagunitas Brewing Company 

It is March once again and beautiful things are happening in Sonoma County. The sun is finally shining, flowers are blooming, and birds are chirping. Wild animals are also coming into their breeding season. Litters of raccoons, skunks, and opossums are filling dens and tree crevices. If something happens to mom, hit by a car or trapped by a property owner, these babies are then orphans and will be brought to our center where we give them the care they need to go back out and live on their own in the wild. Every orphaned raccoon that we admit needs formula, vaccinations, a microchip, de-wormers; the list goes on and on. Each individual raccoon costs an average of 500 dollars from the time it comes in, to the time it is big enough to be released and it is up to us to gain the funds to raise these babies.

We decided as a staff to get a fundraiser together to help with the extra costs of baby season. We had heard only positive things about holding events at the Lagunitas Brewing Company, but we never imagined it would be so amazing. Don Chartier, the contact for nonprofits planning events with Lagunitas was friendly and extremely helpful every step of the way.

As we walked into the brewery on the day of the event, we were greeted by a jovial and extremely accommodating staff. They were ready to help us arrange tables, set up our food and drinks, get the band set up, and put the raffle together. The beer sanctuary was sunny and warm, the perfect place to sit and enjoy a nice, cold beer.  All of their signature home brewed beers were available to the guests in the tap room, and all of the proceeds from the bar were donated to SCWR.

Lagunitas Brewing Company is a great local business with delicious beer and a fun tap room. But more than that, they support the local community with their donations. They set aside every Monday and Tuesday for nonprofit fundraisers free of charge and donate all of the proceeds during the events. They also donate as much beer as needed for nonprofit events at other locations.

We are grateful to Lagunitas Brewery for helping us and giving so much back to our community. Show them your support by visiting their tap room or going on a free tour of the brewery at 1280 North McDowell Boulevard in Petaluma.

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Community Spotlight Summer 2020: Park Avenue Turf

Our three little beavers have moved to an outdoor enclosure thanks to Park Avenue Turf! Ready to move from our hospital into an outdoor enclosure, these beavers still needed to complete a 2 week quarantine before moving into the Aquatic Mammal Enclosure where they will spend the rest of their rehabilitation. Our outdoor quarantine enclosures, also known as our Isolation Community, are completely separated from other parts of the Wildlife Rehabilitation Community and each enclosure is outfitted with concrete floors so that they can be easily sanitized in between wildlife patients. Since wildlife patients spend little time in this area, the unnatural concrete flooring does not pose an issue but the case is much different with beavers.

Beavers spend the majority of their lives in the water, therefore they have large buoyant bodies and soft webbed feet. Their tails are also an extremely important tool for the beavers, not only do they use them as rudders when swimming , they also use them as a defensive mechanism, slapping the water to make a loud splash to ward off predators. Both of these unique characteristics prove to be extremely problematic when you have beavers living on hard concrete surfaces for any amount of time. Their heavy bodies weigh on the pads of their feet outside of the water and the friction against concrete can severely injure the pads of their feet and tail. Also, if a beaver were to feel threatened while on concrete and decide to slap it's tail, the tail could shatter causing a life threatening injury. With all of this in mind, outfitting our isolation enclosure with sod is the perfect solution. Having worked with beavers many times before, we knew just who to call!

Park Avenue Turf has donated sod to us several times over the years and this time was no exception. Not only were they extremely happy to help us again, they even put a rush on the order after they learned that these kits were making a mess of our hospital. We're so grateful to Park Avenue Turf and send them countless thanks for answering the call every time we've asked.

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Community Spotlight Spring 2020: Blindingly Clean

Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue has had the privilege of working with Blindingly Clean since we moved to our current center in 2007. Upon first moving into our center, we were extremely tight on funds and were relying solely on the community to help provide us with materials and volunteer work to furnish and build out our center. When moving in, every window was bare and in need of blinds so Executive Director, Doris Duncan, contacted Ernie Martin at Blindingly Clean to help put up much needed window coverings. For us, blinds were a high priority in order to give staff and volunteers shelter from the sun after long days working outside caring for animals and building enclosures. In addition they are also extremely valuable to our hospital staff who need privacy during intense procedures and when the time comes to humanely euthanize a wildlife patient. During each type of event, the blinds give the animals a smaller space to be enclosed within, limiting stress to them. Ernie, who had watched the developments happening on the property, heard of our need and went above and beyond what we could have hoped for; he installed used and refurbished blinds throughout the center free of charge.

As we continued to build out the center by adding the Nursery, our Wildlife Education Barn and our Raptor Recovery Center, Blindingly Clean was there for us with every new addition by donating blinds and making monthly contributions to our efforts. In January, when we announced that we were going to be building an Apex Predator Enclosure, Ernie immediately reached out out to Doris to let us know that, once again, he's available to help with whatever we need for this project. Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue would like to thank Ernie for his compassion and generosity throughout the years!

If you are in need of blind cleaning, repairs or replacements, we highly recommend working with Blindingly Clean. Based out of Santa Rosa, Blindingly Clean has been in business since 1999 and services from Petaluma to Cloverdale. They are a one stop shop for window coverings with a 5 star rating on Yelp.

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 Community Spotlight Summer 2016: Wine Country Ranch and Equipment

This month’s Supporter Spotlight is on Wine Country Ranch Equipment.  They are located just down the street from us at 6643 Stony Point Road.  The owner, Bob Giannecchini, has been in the business for fourteen years and knows his stuff. They sell horse and cattle equipment, feed, as well as some hard to find parts and fittings! They are always willing to help us when we come running with a broken part from one of our enclosures. With fair prices and great customer service, look no further than Wine Country Ranch Equipment for your ranch and farm needs. 

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Wine Country Ranch and Equipment: (707) 795-1200 

Community Spotlight January 2013: Oliver's Cotati 

It was 2004, while we were building our first wildlife center on the grounds of the Humane Society in Santa Rosa, when we first started working with Aaction Rents. We needed a lot of equipment like chain saws, ditch witchers, scaffolding, various tools such as pick axes, pounding bars, shovels, rakes and all those lovely things it takes to build a wildlife center. Of course we had little or no money to buy any of those things so we contacted Steve Plamann at Aaction rents. We told him about our “situation”, how we had waited 4 years to build a wildlife center and now we were finally ready to start building. We told him about all the animals that needed our help and what kind of enclosures we needed to build for them.

He was very sympathetic and eager to help. He also involved the rest of the managers in his wonderful company. They might not always have had what we needed in the Dutton Ave. or River Road, Santa Rosa stores, but then the Windsor store would help us. Everyone worked together to make sure we had what we needed.

Since we moved to our current location in Petaluma on Mecham Rd.  Aaction Rents has continued to be there for us. We “borrowed” scaffolding to build the Raptor Recovery Center in March and are still using it. Steve might call occasionally to see how we are doing.  A typical conversation might go like this: “Hi Doris, this is Steve from Aaction Rents, how’s that scaffolding working out?”  I would reply; “Oh it’s going great Steve. There are volunteers standing on it right now working on the roof. We are more then halfway done with the Raptor Recovery Center. I can’t wait for you to see it. Thank you so much for letting us borrow the scaffolding for so long. We really appreciate it.” Steve would then say, “Ok Doris, keep up the good work. Just get it back when you are done. I will keep trying to get there to see you. Just been real busy here.”

Here it is 2013, and we are still all working together to make a better place for the animals. It really does take a village to raise a wildlife center. We are eternally grateful for the kind and generous folks at Aaction Rents.​

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Community Spotlight May 2013: Petaluma Minute Man Press

Twice each year Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue mails out flyers to all of our supporters to ask for their continued support. Our Spring Season Plea focuses on donations to help us care for the influx of baby animals we see from March through October. This is the most costly time of year for SCWR, and this mail-out is crucial for us to be able to provide the care that our wildlife patients need.

Petaluma Minuteman Press helped make this year’s Spring Season Plea possible with their amazing customer service and by giving us a discount and helping us keep printing costs as low as possible.

Working with Petaluma Minuteman Press was a wonderful experience. Their knowledgeable and friendly staff knew what to use and how to print everything so that it looked great and kept costs down. Our Spring Season Appeal turned out beautifully and was mailed out to nearly 2,500 supporters. 

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Community Spotlight Fall 2020: All About Trees

It's not too often that we call on outside resources for help with a rescue but when we received a call about a raccoon stuck by it's rear leg 20 feet up in a tree, we knew just who to call! All About Trees is a local tree company who has been helping us prepare for our new APEX Predator Enclosure and trail maintenance around the facility. As a wildlife rescue and non-profit, they have been extremely mindful of our unique and specific needs while working at the center. So when we saw this daunting rescue, we knew that they just might be willing and able to lend a hand. Kyle answered our call for help and drove straight to the Coast Guard Base and prepared his ropes while learning to use a catch pole for the first time. Kyle completed the rescue and the raccoon was brought to SCWR for care. Thank you so much to Kyle and All About Trees for your help and compassion for wildlife!  Click here to see a video of the rescue.

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Community Spotlight Spring 2021: Lynmar Estate

Lynmar Estate Winery is a company that Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue has long held near to our hearts. As our very first BOMP client in 2012, our relationship with Lynmar Estate began when Executive Director, Doris Duncan, arrived at one of their vineyards one fateful summer day to collect food for our rehabbing wildlife patients from Greg. Greg is another one of our dear wildlife friends, who ran The Gopher Guy. Once on site, Doris noticed that the vineyard had barn owl boxes installed throughout. Thinking of the orphaned barn owls that were in care back at the Rescue, she asked if she could peek in the boxes to see if there were any owls inside to potentially foster the orphaned owlets. To her delight Lynn and Anisya Fritz, the owners of Lynmar Estate, happened to be at the vineyard that day and gave Doris the green light to check in the boxes. This singular encounter was the launching moment of our Barn Owl Maintenance Program.

Since then, Lynmar Estate has answered our call for help time and time again. Most recently, they have been supplying us with truckloads of willow for the 3 orphaned beavers that were in our care until their recent release in mid-April!

Cheers to Lynmar Estate Winery and their dedication to wildlife!

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Community Spotlight Summer 2021: NorCal Affordable Plumbing

Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue is excited to announce the first otter patient to benefit from our Aquatic Mammal Enclosure’s Otter Nursery Pool! This young orphaned otter was transferred for continued care from Gold Country Wildlife Rescue. The new addition was constructed thanks to Dan Hendrickson and Robyn Newkirk of Hendrickson Pool last winter as well as volunteers who help build the den and prep the area for construction. Read more about their efforts in the Animal Care Spotlight of our 2020 newsletter here. In early May, Nor Cal Affordable Plumbing finalized this project by donating their time and expertise to extend water to our lower pond in the Aquatic Mammal Enclosure!

This smaller pond will be a sanctuary for small orphaned otters and beavers learning to swim on their own. Since these species rely on their parents to teach them how to swim in the wild, this otter pond provides a safe pool with sloped edges where young otters may teach themselves to swim until they are sufficient enough to transfer to our larger Aquatic Mammal Enclosure. Join us in giving NorCal Affordable Plumbing a special thanks for finalizing this enclosure just in time for our first otter patient of 2021!

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Community Spotlight Fall 2021: VCA Animal Care Center

Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue would like to give a special thank you to VCA Animal Care Center for their helping hand with the Rohnert Park mountain lion, P-26. After learning of our need for help in diagnostic tests for this mountain lion, Animal Care Center jumped into action and were ready for our arrival immediately after receiving the call. The caring team at Animal Care Center, led by Dr. Sara Schachter and Dr. Diccon Westworth, conducted radiographs, urine and blood analysis, ultra sounds and even an MRI. While these tests are extremely costly, the kind hearts at Animal Care Center donated their services to this mountain lion free of charge. As the closest emergency veterinary clinic to Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue, Animal Care Center has offered tremendous aid to us since 2001. Their compassion and willingness to lend a hand continues to leave a lasting mark on our rescue and the patients they help. Join us in giving a special thanks to the team at VCA Animal Care Center in Rohnert Park. 

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