Peg Jackson’s 2010 Pet Photo Day to benefit the Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Center was sold out! A special thanks to all who made the event a huge success, especially:
1. Professional photographer Peg Jackson who has donated her time and talent for 18 years to benefit the animals at W.E.R.C.
2. Charles Weston and Lesley Miles for hosting Pet Photo Day at The Granary.
3. Leah DeLane and Fast Frame Morgan Hill for co-sponsoring Pet Photo Day and providing professional framing services at a discount.
Please support these great businesses and wonderful people who support W.E.R.C.!

Recently, Pet Friends announced our Champagne and Chocolates fundraiser to be held at the Windhaven Ranch in San Juan Bautista. Well, it’s still on, but will be held Saturday, Feb. 13, from 1-4 p.m., but it will be at the Bolado Park Pavilion.

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This Barn Owl baby with her heart-shaped face is here to remind you that Valentine’s Day is fast approaching.

Is your sweetheart on a diet? Does he or she have hay fever? Instead of a box of chocolates or a dozen roses, the perfect gift for the animal lover might be a donation in his or her name to your local wildlife care center or pet shelter. It’s a size that will always fit and never goes out of date.

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While you’re doing your holiday shopping and getting into the spirit of the season, take a few moments to consider the pets waiting for new families to adopt them and the wild animals that are waiting to be healed so they can be released back to their native habitats. A gift sponsorship to one of our local pet shelters or wildlife centers goes a long way to ensuring that these pets and wildlife will stay alive and healthy.

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Be the difference this holiday season and light up the night for homeless cats and dogs to help find their way to new loving homes. Pet Friends and SHARE Animal Rescue Effort are launching their first fund-raising event together this holiday season, “PAWS to Light Up the Night.” We are lighting lights on a tree at the Pet Friends Center that can be viewed from Highway 156.

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The Wildlife Education & Rehabilitation Center’s 14th Annual BBQ & Auction

When: Saturday, October 24, 2009 4:00–7:00 PM
Where: Morgan Hill Buddhist Community Center, 16450 Murphy Avenue, Morgan Hill

* BBQ with all the trimmings—wine, beer, sodas included; unique silent and live auction items; and more!

* Each adult ticket holder will be able to select a wildlife print by California artist Pat Wilke (more…)

…and mark your 2010 calendar now for Peg Jackson’s 18^th Annual Pet Photo Days on Jan. 29-31 to benefit WERC, the Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Center. Whether you have a poodle, pony, Persian, parakeet, python or pot-bellied pig, Peg’s photos are top-quality, professionally-taken photographs that will be a lifelong treasure in your family gallery. And people can be in the picture, too, so it will make a fantastic family portrait!

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On Oct. 10, Pet Friends will have their annual Yard Sale. We are looking for donations of new and gently-used items to be donated for our yard sale. Drop-offs can be made prior to the date from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday at the PET FRIENDS Center. All items sold will help support the cats and dogs at the Pet Friends center. Bring your items to Pet Friends, at 2975 Buena Vista Road, Hollister (just off Highway 156).
For more information, call 831-634-1191, or send an e-mail to topcat@petfriends.org.
Please mention that you saw it on the South Valley Pets
blog, and come see Dixie and the rest of the dogs and cats
at Pet Friends.

by Brigid Wasson

Maddie’s Fund www.maddiesfund.org is a charitable organization established in 1999 for the purpose of guaranteeing loving homes to all healthy and treatable dogs and cats in shelters across the country. Since then, Maddie’s has awarded over $70 million to animal welfare agencies and universities that share the goal of creating a “no-kill nation.” Santa Clara County Animal Care & Control supports this goal, and we are very excited to be working with Maddie’s to achieve it.

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Notice: Due to the general economic downturn and low ticket sales, W.E.R.C.’s BBQ-Auction Fundraiser on May 30 has been postponed until this Fall.

Until then, please keep in mind that W.E.R.C. continues to need your help to keep its doors open and perform its lifesaving work to rehabilitate orphaned and injured native wildlife. All donations will be gratefully appreciated.

For stories and videos of some of these animals at W.E.R.C., go to www.werc-ca.org. And watch for updates posted regularly on this blog.

By Colleen Grzan, werc@werc-ca.org
Two bobcat kittens - seen above with their surrogate mom (and another kitten arriving soon) - 3 barn owls, 1 great horned owl, 1 screech owl, 5 black phoebes, 8 opossums and 1 red-shouldered hawk are the orphans currently being cared for at W.E.R.C. Then there are the injured adult birds in rehab: 2 turkey vultures, a red-tailed hawk and a barn owl. And let’s not forget the educational animals: A red-tailed hawk, great horned owl, screech owl, peregrine falcon, acorn woodpecker, merlin, opossum and gopher. Whew! It’s a day-in day-out job feeding, cleaning and sometimes medicating all these animals but we do it out of our love for wildlife and the joy of eventually seeing the rehab animals released back to their native habitats, healthy and wild.

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By Colleen Grzan, werc@werc-ca.org

Two-week-old bobcat, “Morro” arrived at the Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Center April 17. A hiker trekking in Morro Bay park had discovered the tiny kitten in the middle of a field, but was unsure of whether the mother had only accidentally and temporarily dropped her while transporting her to a safe haven.

Checking back an hour later, the hiker found that the helpless kitten was still there and so it was assumed that the mother was either dead or had abandoned her. He brought her to Pacific Wildlife Care, who contacted W.E.R.C. W.E.R.C. is internationally renowned for its protocols for rehabilitating orphaned bobcat kittens.

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Support W.E.R.C. and enjoy a delightful evening listening to great jazz by the renowned The Sideways Trio (www.thesidewaystrio.com). 100 percent of the proceeds benefit the Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Center in Morgan Hill. Though only the humans in the jazz band will actually be performing live music, guests will also have the opportunity to meet nature’s own drummer (Clarabelle, the acorn woodpecker), bass voice (hootin’ Luna, the great horned owl), and other of W.E.R.C.’s educational non-releasable animals.

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Professional photographer Peg Jackson will come to your site to photograph your favorite large animal. Humans can be in the pictures, too, so if you’d like a great family portrait, this is a fun way to do it!

DATE: Saturday, April 11, 2009
TIME: Beginning at 11:00 AM
PLACE: Your site (within 20 miles of Morgan Hill)

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If your pooch stirs up a hurricane when he wags his tail, has some crazy trick up his sleeve, or looks fabulous in a tutu, the Hollister Dog Owners Group would like to have a talk with you. Dogs of all shapes, sizes and talents are being sought for the Dog Days of Hollister’s Pooch Parade Costume Contest and Doggie Contests set for May 30.
The event will be held at Dunne Park, located near in the intersection of West and Sixth streets. Doggie competitions and entertainment will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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