CALM Breaks Ground on New Veterinary Clinic

CALM’s new Veterinary Clinic that is under construction

To ring in the new year, the California Living Museum is celebrating by making some much-needed improvements to its Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.

Since its founding in 1983, CALM has treated and released thousands of injured, orphaned, and abandoned animals back into the wild. With the increase in wildlife rehab cases over the past decade, the time has come to update existing enclosures, purchase new equipment, and make more space to ensure that animals have enough room to heal before being released back into the wild.

As part of these renovations, CALM has also partnered with UC Davis and the Oiled Wildlife Care Network (OWCN) to construct a new Veterinary Clinic, which is well underway and expected to be completed this spring. The clinic will allow CALM to better care for its collection of native California animals on-site while providing the Oiled Wildlife Care Network with its first inland facility to care for oiled wildlife in the rare event of an oil spill.

“As an inland facility, being able to respond to a situation without factoring travel time from coastal facilities will significantly cut rescue time,” said Megan Maitland, Director of CALM. “Plus, our partnership with UC Davis and OWCN will help CALM become a training facility for agencies to learn how to deal when these situations arise.”

The clinic will include a full-time veterinarian — a first for CALM — and a veterinarian technician. The team will oversee procedures like ultrasounds, sedation, wellness checks, blood draws, and much more. Additionally, there will be an onsite surgical suite and related equipment for more serious cases, new quarantine and holding facilities to enhance the safety and health of CALM’s animal collection, and an enhanced commissary and kitchen facility.

“These exciting changes wouldn’t be possible without generous donations from our community,” Maitland said. “The improvements will allow CALM to take in over 800 injured animals each year with the goal of rehabilitation and release back into the wild.”

UC Davis and the OWCN are contributing $350,000 of the $1,000,000 cost to construct the facility. CALM has launched a capital campaign to raise the balance of the funds to complete the project.

Donations can be made at www.calmzoo.org.