Wildlife Care Association

WILDLIFE CARE ASSOCIATION

GIVING WILDLIFE A SECOND CHANCE

Destruction of habitat, use of poisons, domestic animal attacks, and so much more have caused an enormous decline in wildlife worldwide. Each year it continues to get worse. At Wildlife Care Association (WCA), we are committed to helping as many sick, orphaned, and/or injured wild animals as possible. Our number one goal is to rehabilitate then release those wild victims back into the wild.

Did you know that members of the public and animal control agencies brought 9,189 sick, orphaned, and/or injured wild animals to WCA in 2025? Or that the animal intake numbers have increased at least 20% year-over-year for the past three years?

Although habitat destruction continues to be on an upward trend, Sacramento, Placer, Yolo, and many other adjoining counties still have plenty of green and aquatic spaces to sustain healthy wildlife populations. We feel it is our duty to help maintain the quality of life for humans as well as wild animals; maintaining a healthy local ecosystem while helping sustain wild populations by returning animals back into the wild where they belong.

“Thank you for the amazing & wonderful work you do.”

K.D., Sacramento area

Since 1975, WCA has been entrusted to care for wild animals in-need, but it has not been an easy plight. As a grassroots organization, the early days consisted of a few volunteers, most of which were home rehabilitators, taking care of animals at their individual homes. In the early years, some of the prominent naturalists in the Sacramento area such as M.B. Goodier, Effie Yeaw, and William B. Pond were very active and worked hard to establish Wildlife Care Association as an important community service organization. We have now grown to be the second largest wildlife rehabilitation center in the state of California. As animal numbers increased, the need to centralize and hire staff became a necessity and imminent. For the past 50+ years, WCA has helped well over 300,000 animals. In 2025, WCA serviced animals brought to us from 124 different zip codes in northern California.

“Thankful for this organization in our community!”

Pamela V., Sacramento

The large increase in the number of animals obviously caused a substantial increase in our annual budget. More animals mean more food, more medication, more caging, more supplies, and more staff to care for the wildlife brought to us, and that’s not even taking inflation into account. Our budget has now surpassed $600,000 with no way of knowing for certain what 2026 will bring; we can only analyze the trends and try to predict our budgetary needs. Only 14% of our annual operating expenses are funded with government funding. The rest of our expenses are paid for with generous donations from the public and a few small grants. It is our primary goal to give the best possible care to every wild patient brought to WCA.

“Thank you for all you do for wildlife.”

 Shawn B., Fair Oaks