Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley

I volunteer here and all the staff are very friendly and helpful when you need help with something. I love animals and it’s amazing to see places like this willing to take time to help wildlife!

I’m beyond pissed at this so called wild life center who claims to have a mission for high quality care.
I was referred to this place after my family found an abandoned baby squirrel. We initially left it there where we first spotted it, but returned the next day to find the squirrel lethargic and covered in insects which appeared to be eating him alive.
My sister nursed the poor little squirrel back to life. It was truly a miracle he even survived. At this point we didn’t even have any type of wild life facility in mind. We just completely forgot they existed until a friend reminded us, and eventually referred us to this place.
My 2 kids and my sister literally fed and played with this little guy for two weeks.
Then today she decided to take him to this dreadful place who claims to have high quality care. High quality care to not allow my sister and kids to say good-​bye to the little guy who grew to them for the past couple weeks. Seriously? To the point you make my kids (6 and 8) and her cry? Seriously, high quality care for no compassion towards the family who went beyond their means get this squirrel back on his feet? Not even a simple last look? Not even a simple last good-​bye? High quality care? Yea right!
What makes you think we’ll send another animal your way after you treat people who are compassionate towards animals the way you do? in addition to making my kids cry because you wouldn’t allow a simple good-​bye. I can only imagine the «high quality care» you treat your animals.
The reason they couldn’t let them say good-bye?because once they take the squirrel back to the exam room they can’t take them out. What? Really? Then why didn’t you say that at first?! You clearly saw the squirrel was fully taken care of and even had a comfortable temporary home we brought him in. You couldn’t tell that maybe, just maybe, with your mission of high quality care in your radar, that perhaps this person who did the same «high quality care» for this squirrel deserved a last good-​bye? Or last glance? I mean, don’t you deserve a good-​bye or last glance after you work with an animal to rehabilitate then set them free? Or do you just treat them like an unimportant number like how you treated my sister and kids?
For God sakes, what pisses me off about all this is my kids were in tears crying all the way home. We drove all the way from Foster City to San Jose. I wouldn’t be going through all this trouble to Unilocal about this, but trust me, after seeing how distraught my family was from returning from your center. I assure you that people will be aware of how your staff treats people. Specifically Stephanie, Holly, Alex, Janet and Rachel. If you thought not giving us your name after we asked was going to prevent this Unilocal review about you, then you were wrong.
Please be retrained at what you do for the sake of humanity. Or, find another line of business in collections with your cold attitude and manners.

The Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley is a quant-​looking structure nestled on the side of Penitencia park. In spite of its small appearance, the center actually has several nice structures specifically crafted for temporary housing of wildlife, before their release.
Volunteers and staff members go the extra mile to make the animals’ stay is as comfortable and non-​invasive as possible.
There are specific diet plans, husbandry, and medication schedules efficiently set up.
The people who work and volunteer at this center are amazingly passionate about the wildlife. The center is a non-​profit and participates in a lot of community activities — fundraisers, training courses, community education…
I’ve read some stories on here about animals being turned away or euthanized. The center makes the choices that best suit the quality of life and chances of survival for those animals and birds. I’ve never actually seen an animal put to sleep at the center, though I’m sure it does happen on occasion.
If you ever find a wild animal that you feel is abandoned or in danger, reach out to the wildlife center for compassionate and valid advice!

I took some baby possums that were in my yard. While they were not infants, they were fairly small and immature and no mom to be found. I was handed a pamphlet with a regrettable shake of the head … no, they weren’t going to take the animals. My problem is twofold: no staff member even looked at them to assess their ages and (here’s the bigger problem) nowhere on the organization’s website does it say *not* to bring animals to them. In fact, the site clearly states its mission is to provide care for injured, sick AND orphaned wildlife.
I live extremely close to a major expressway and didn’t feel it was in the best interest of these young animals to be in such close proximity to it. The staff member I dealt with told me that possums were ‘pretty nimble’ and ‘nocturnal’ and brushed off my concerns about the street. Nimble. So I guess the dead ones I regularly see on the sides of the roads were just unlucky.
Maybe the organization should consider adding a disclaimer to its web site so people like me don’t waste their time trying to save animals or change its mission statement to reflect that they only take animals that photograph well.

Took my Girl Scout troop in to hear Miss Trudie talk about wildlife at the center. She was able to keep twelve kinder and first grade girls engaged in a discussion about wild animals for a forty-​five minute presentation. She was a very passionate and humorous presenter. We got to see Fala an albino crow. I only wished it was longer. The girls and their parents really enjoyed it.

I, too, find the details on the one review hard to phantom. I cannot see anyone at the center laughing about putting down an animal. I’ve brought several birds there and they are very professional and very helpful. Yes, the animals are given a number so you can call back later and check on them. I donate to a lot of animal agencies and I never heard of this one until the incident happened with the birds I brought it. Unfortunately, only one survived of the three. The animals have to be euthanized when they are in extreme pain.
I wish they would do more advertising but guess they cannot afford it. I donate to a lot of animal agencies but I certainly will be adding this agency to my list. I can only commend the staff and the work that this agency is doing.

Wildlife centers are very important in helping to rescue, rehabilitate and release animals back into the wild. Great work being done at the WCSV.
I just had to comment on a reviewer below, Roxy M. Wildlife rehabilitation/​rescue centers are not designated to save every bird or animal. Rather, they must evaluate every case that comes in. Think about it – wildlife need certain skills to survive in the wild to avoid being eaten or harmed. Squirrels need to run and climb, birds need to fly. If a bird goes into a wildlife center and it is deemed that they are unable to be released back into the wild due to their prior injury (ie: a wing was broken and is unable to be fixed), they need to be euthanized. It is inhumane to release an animal back into the wild if they are unable to survive and every wildlife center does their best to evaluate and rehabilitate these animals and there is usually a very good reason for the euthanasia of any animal.

Nestled amongst a park like area I stumbled upon a fantastic discovery! An Amazing foundation preserving wildlife in our community! This sanctuary helps lost and injured animals, and is desperately seeking donate-​able items. I stopped in last week to see how I could help, and was given a link via their website to an Amazon wish list. When I went onto the list it was very simple items that are very affordable, they also made me think. How many times have I seen an injured bird, raccoon, squirrel, etc? Ive also then felt hopeless. Not any more! Its amazing to me to know that resources like these exist, that they are donation based and are still chugging along. Im a fan for sure!

I have taken injured wildlife here & they are expert professionals. We must remember that urban wildlife creatures are not domestic animals & cannot be kept like pets, but should be protected. I donate hundreds of dollars to this org as I have no time to volunteer but do want to help urban wildlife. I would urge anyone seeing an injured wild animal to try to help & call WCSV asap. I would also urge you all to put out clean water & perhaps some birdseed or a squirrel feeder in their backyards. I have both & my winged & furry friends are better entertainment than TV! Plus, I love them. So let’s all try to help our fellow brother & sister animals because after all, we are often the indirect cause of their problems.

The WCSV is amazing!!! They rehabilitate injured or sick animals then release them!

i have an interesting, but VERY annoying situation. so, i called to notify of a bird which has made a nest in my next door neighbor’s balcony. the problem is that on the way home to their nest, the birds poop in my balcony. i notified my apartment manager, and they’ve done nothing about it. it sucks for me because i am the one that has to clean up the poop if i want to enjoy the beautiful weather with company on my balcony. after explaining this situation to the Wildlife Center, i was given some very helpful information:
1) my apartment manager must wait until the nest is no longer active before removing the nest or they could be fined by the state
2)using Pine Sol or other strong smelly liquids will not get rid of the birds because song birds have no sense of smell
3)reproduction is usually in spring and summer, so i must wait until winter to have my apartment manager close off the opening so that no other nests can be made here.

My cat dragged home a house sparrow. it was a young one and it was bitten and looked like it had a broken leg and wing. I immediately found the Wildlife Center on Unilocal with the help of my brother and it turned out to be very close by. We sent the young bird to the Wildlife Center and it’s still doing great with lotsof other birds! I loove this place! I hope they keep on doing great things for Mother Nature.

We found an injured hen on the side of a road and though they couldn’t take her in since she was a domestic animal, the receptionist called back with detailed instructions on who to turn to in the Bay Area to take care of the hen. Wish they had been open at night to take the call, however – had to wait until morning to get help.

A few years ago, I brought an injured crow to the Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley. The crow had an injured wing, and could not fly— but was not in danger of dying. I had cared for the bird three days earlier, and brought the bird to a shelter in order to «do the right thing.» On the phone, they assured they would not kill the bird, who was not mortally wounded.
The shelter is a VERY tiny building, filled with pamphlets but no visible animals. I should have listened to my gut instinct rather than the woman at the counter. Her name was Bonny, and although she acted hospitable at first, she killed my bird that same day.
She replaced my bird’s name («Noir») with a long and impersonal number, then abruptly took my crow into a backroom where I was not allowed to enter. She returned than five minutes later to tell me the bird would be put down. Bonny explained that the injured wing could not be «fixed,» so Noir would never be able to return to the wild. Apparently, this also meant my bird needed to be «put down.» I was shocked! I pointed out that other shelters rescue bald eagles that can’t return to the wild, then demanded to have my bird back. She refused, and told me it was illegal to keep wild birds as companion animals in California. I cried, while she smiled and told me that I could always volunteer here if I wanted to. This reaction was very disturbing, and it still creeps me out…
Although the Center claims it keeps the animals overnight for surveillance, this is a lie. I called the shelter that same day, and they put me on hold for 10 – 15 minutes. Finally, I was put through to the «Animal Care Supervisor,» who bluntly told me that my bird was «put down.»
Find another shelter to bring your bird to… this one only keeps high-​profile «rare» animals they can show off to raise donations. They will kill your bird.

I absolutely adore this place. I have taken a handful of found injured birds here. The people here are wonderful and I love everything they do to take gentle care of the animals and they are very good about keeping you updated. I call back every time and they are very thorough, clear and understanding. I hope to be able to share some of my time volunteering here in the future, wonderful place doing wonderful things.