After being rescued and rehabilitated by San Diego Humane Society's Ramona Wildlife Center, more than a dozen small animals were returned to the wild, officials said Monday.
Eighteen of the little critters were brought to the Ramona Wildlife Center earlier this month for care, including raccoons, opossums, squirrels and a skunk.
“It is always our goal to rehabilitate and return wildlife to their natural habitat as quickly as possible,” said Andy Blue, campus director of San Diego Humane Society’s Ramona Wildlife Center. “We are glad we were able to assist an important state agency and have our Project Wildlife medical team diagnose and treat each animal based on their individual needs.”
All of the animals were dewormed and treated for fleas by SDHS's Project Wildlife team, SDHS said. The opossums were deemed healthy and released by volunteers on March 10 in San Diego County, and the raccoons and skunk were given a clean bill of health and released by volunteers the following day.
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An adult female opossum that came in with significant wounds on her face, body and tail, and two adult squirrels who were transferred to SDHS’s Bahde Wildlife Center, are still receiving care by Project Wildlife’s team.
SDHS said one of the squirrels needed a tail amputation and is now recovering from surgery. The second squirrel is healthy and helping with the recovery of the first squirrel by reducing stress while in care, SDHS said. Both squirrels are expected to be released together in the coming days.
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According to Wildlife Rehabilitation Coordinator Heather Perry of the California Department Fish and Wildlife, the animals brought to the Ramona Wildlife Center were rescued from Orange County and are part of an ongoing investigation.
SDHS's Project Wildlife program is the primary resource for wild animal rehabilitation and conservation education in San Diego County. Each year, SDHS gives more than 13,000 injured, orphaned and sick wild animals a second chance.
In 2020, SDHS announced a new Ramona campus, where they specialize in caring for native apex predators and birds of prey, including hawks, owls, eagles, coyotes, bears, bobcats and, under special pilot authorization, mountain lions.
