Tag archives: Wildlife Care Network

A Rawr-ing Good Night
By Richard Mineards   |   October 10, 2023

Party guests at the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network gala got an early taste of Halloween with its theme Wild Night Out: Nocturnal. Many of the 225 party animals dressed as Dracula or sported bat wings at the beastly bash at the historic Santa Barbara Club that raised around $150,000 for the popular 35-year-old nonprofit, […]

A Wild Time at Happy Hour
By Richard Mineards   |   March 7, 2023

Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network is battening down the hatches as “baby season” kicks off! Executive Director Ariana Katovich says that since the New Year the nonprofit, based in the Goleta foothills, has had 222 “patients” of 62 different species, 70% of them birds, like herons and pelicans, and 30% mammals, including bush rabbits. But […]

Care for Wildlife Care Crew
By Richard Mineards   |   January 24, 2023

It was all too beastly for words when Gretchen Lieff, vice president of the board for the popular Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network, hosted a boffo bash at her La Lieff tasting room in the Funk Zone for 200 volunteers. “It’s the least we could do to show our gratitude for the many hours they […]

Art for Endangered Animals
By Joanne A Calitri   |   December 13, 2022

The Thomas Reynolds Gallery is generously hosting a wall for the art of two local oil painters on a mission to raise awareness of endangered animals and factory farmed animals. The exhibit is titled “EYE AM ART” and is on view now through December 31. The oil painters are longtime painter, illustrator, and teacher Nancy […]

Wild Animals That Care
By Richard Mineards   |   November 22, 2022

The party animals were out in force when the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network hosted a fun fête at the venerable Santa Barbara Club with the 240 guests raising around $200,000 for the popular organization, which has an annual budget of $1.8 million. The boffo bash, A Wild Night Out, had a host of colorful […]

New Director of Veterinary Services Announced
By Richard Mineards   |   August 30, 2022

Dr. Rebecca Aldoretta is the new Director of Veterinary Services at the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network.  She has vast experience in veterinary care, including wildlife and exotic pet medicine, companion animal general practice, and emergency medicine. After earning her veterinary degree from Kansas State University in 2015, she worked all over the U.S. including […]

Keystone Ocean Species Is in Crisis
By Montecito Journal   |   May 31, 2022

On Saturday, May 14, an unusual influx of emaciated, weak, and hypothermic brown pelicans began arriving at the Wildlife Hospital at the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network (SBWCN). The amount of pelicans that are being rescued and delivered are increasing at a daily rate, but the cause of their condition is still unknown.  There are […]

What a Wild Night
By Richard Mineards   |   October 26, 2021

The party animals were out en masse when Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network hosted its annual Wild Night Out at the Carousel House at Chase Palm Park with 200 guests raising more than $150,000 for the popular group. The boffo bash, co-chaired by Gretchen Lieff and Connie Pearcy, had decided Hawaiian overtones with dancers from […]

Merry Chrismans
By Richard Mineards   |   July 5, 2021

The party animals were out in force when Roger and Sarah Chrisman hosted a nautical bash for the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network on their new 78-foot cruiser, Polaris II. The 30-year-old nonprofit, which cares for 3,400 animals each year and has more than 200 volunteers, has just launched a $1 million capital campaign to […]

‘We See a Lot of Hope Every Day’: SB Wildlife Care Network Growing as Need Expands
By Steven Libowitz   |   May 13, 2021

The pandemic might have produced a reduced need for services at many businesses and nonprofits. But that’s not the case at the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network. In fact, the coronavirus crises created a contrary result, even if only indirectly. “We saw a dramatic increase in animals coming here in 2020, and we’re certainly on […]

In Real Life Version of The Birds, Swift Thinking Saves Hundreds in Montecito
By Gretchen Lieff   |   May 13, 2021

It’s Monday in Montecito, KEYT is predicting a high of 75 degrees, and the winds have finally blown out of the area. I look toward the garden where overnight gusts have left plenty of oak and eucalyptus debris to keep my broom busy. I decide to hit the phones early, answering the rescue line for […]

Black Swans: Chaos Surrounds Discovery and Ultimate Capture of Black Swans in SB Harbor
By Gretchen Lieff and Nick Masuda   |   May 13, 2021

The phones at both the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network and Santa Barbara Zoo were quite busy over the weekend and into Tuesday — there were a handful of Australian Black Swans hanging out in the Santa Barbara Harbor, a sight never seen on the South Coast. That ended abruptly on Tuesday afternoon when Julia […]

The Oak Group: Artist Activists
By Leslie Westbrook   |   April 29, 2021

Summerland boasts an array of natural beauty. The sea is the most obvious asset, but gently rolling hills dotted with wild mustard, when rains and Mother Nature have cooperated, and other spots beckon nature lovers and wildlife, including Brandt’s cormorants, which I will get to in a moment. The landscape has long lured artists with […]

It’s for the Birds
By Richard Mineards   |   April 1, 2021

Santa Barbara’s Wildlife Care Network has just broken ground on its new state-of-the-art $6 million, 5,400-square-foot hospital in the Goleta foothills. “It will allow us a greater capability to save and serve thousands of wild lives,” says Ariana Katovich, executive director. “Current conditions have staff working out of old, meager facilities. Diets are prepared in […]

What a Year
By Richard Mineards   |   March 11, 2021

It has been quite a hair-raising year for Montecito crimper Marcus Boyle, owner of the Halo & Horns salon on Coast Village Road with his wife, Clara, just a curling tongs’ throw from Ca’Dario. Marcus, 45, who trained at Vidal Sassoon in London, celebrates the first anniversary of his business this month having worked for […]

Coming Up Rosés
By Richard Mineards   |   December 17, 2020

Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network is launching a Wild Rosé limited edition fundraiser. The Grenache Rosé wine, available for a limited time, was made specifically to benefit the popular charity by renowned winemaker Kris Curran, voted one of California’s highest profile winemakers with grapes from Montecito animal activist Gretchen Lieff’s Alamo Creek Ranch. Donor premiums […]

WCN Hospital Underway
By Richard Mineards   |   February 27, 2020

Santa Barbara’s 32-year-old Wildlife Care Network, which is building a two-story, 5,000 sq. ft. animal hospital on its 1.8 acre Goleta property, has raised more than $3 million of its $6 million budget, including a hefty donation of $3 million from News-Press owner Wendy McCaw and $250,000 in a grant from the Oiled Wildlife Care […]

Into the Wild
By Richard Mineards   |   July 25, 2019

Santa Barbara’s 31-year-old Wildlife Care Network hosted a sunset soirée to launch a capital campaign to raise $5 million to build the Central Coast’s only wildlife hospital between Morro Bay and Los Angeles. Already $500,000 has been donated to the organization, which has a $600,000 annual budget, and has so far rescued 2,920 animals this […]

Spring and Summer Tree Care and Wildlife Safety
By Claire Garvais   |   May 16, 2019

by Claire Garvais and Emily Komessar It’s Baby Season! Hundreds of owlets, squirrels, woodpeckers, and hummingbirds are nice and cozy in nests of all shapes and sizes throughout Santa Barbara County. Some of these babies will fall prey to forces of nature; they may fall out of their nests early or be harassed by natural […]

Party Animals
By Richard Mineards   |   April 25, 2019

Santa Barbara’s 31-year-old Wildlife Care Network, which rescued 3,297 animals of 170 different species last year, hosted a supporters party at its seven-year-old Goleta headquarters. Just the same day the organization had rescued two six-week-old skunk babies and a fox cub of the same age. Among the animal lovers turning out for the bijou bash […]