These Wild Ones Care

It was all too beastly for words when the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network (SBWCN) hosted a sold-out Wild Night Out at the historic Lobero Theatre. The occasion was SBWCN’s world premiere presentation of Wild Rescue, a 41-minute film about the organization, which launched in 1988. The film is directed by Santa Ynez resident Ian Shive, who served on the network’s board. 

Their current home in the Goleta foothills was acquired in 2012 after moving from another home, a former avocado orchard, bought in 2004. In 2021 – after a $6 million funding campaign – the organization broke ground on a 5,500 square foot wildlife hospital, which opened in 2022.

In the film, pelicans, hummingbirds, bats, foxes, possums, racoons, and bobcats are seen getting care. Marc Summers, former host of the Food Network’s Unwrapped, narrates the documentary.

Back in the ‘80s I used to appear on his Queens, New York-based TV talk show Biggers and Summers, co-hosted by Marc and Sissy Biggers, and directed by my former boss, Joan Rivers.

The film project took two and a half years, 80 hours of footage, and nearly 50 versions of the script to finally bring it to the screen. There is now talk it may be eligible for an Academy Award.

The network’s Executive Director Ariana Katovich says they hoped to raise $150,000 from the fest.

Among the party animals were Gretchen Lieff, Mindy Denson, Ginni Dreier, Connie Pearcy, Eve Bernstein, Nigel and Connie Buxton, and Robert and Ellen Lilley.