Wildlife Salvage Post, Denied Fund-Raiser, Faces Extinction

A nonprofit Sylmar game preserve that is widely known for its animal rehabilitation work has failed to gain county approval for an “absolutely essential” fund-raiser, its owner said Friday.

Martine Collette, owner and manager of the Wildlife Waystation, said Friday that if she cannot hold a barbecue fund-raiser she might be forced to close the 160-acre preserve near Little Tujunga Canyon Road in the Angeles National Forest.

Collette said she had planned to hold an all-day Western-style barbecue at the ranch on May 19 to help pay $50,000 in food bills accumulated since last summer.

Failed to Obtain Permits

But Collette said that this year’s fund-raiser is likely to be canceled because she had failed to obtain the required permits from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Since 1969, the Wildlife Waystation has been a licensed rehabilitation and relocation center for domestic, exotic and wild animals, which are treated at the ranch and then placed with new owners or returned to their natural environments. Over the years, the ranch has worked regularly with both the city and county facilities for stray animals.

Collette said the Waystation traditionally builds up debts during the winter, when it receives most of its animal feed on credit. In past years, she said, it paid most of the debts with money from private fund-raising events. In an attempt to raise more money this year, she decided to make the fund-raiser public for the first time.

But Collette said her plan could jeopardize the entire center, because such events are illegal without permits from the county.

“It’s a real can of worms,” she said. “Without the fund-raiser, we cannot survive into the summer.”

Standards Not Met

Lt. Robert O’Sullivan, head of the Sheriff’s Department licensing detail, said the department withheld its approval because the ranch does not meet county public assembly standards. He said the ranch, among other things, has no running water and poor access roads.

O’Sullivan said the department would grant the permits if conditions were improved, or if the fund-raiser were moved to another site.

Collette, who did not dispute O’Sullivan’s description of conditions at the Waystation, said she could not afford the required improvements, since the ranch is already in debt.

She said she also cannot afford to move the fund-raiser, for which 400 tickets have already been sold from the ranch, and another 6,000 to 7,000 sold by community volunteers. The tickets cost from $6.50 to $10.50.

Operating Costs

Collette said the Waystation is supported by periodic fund-raising events and donations from members. It costs $25,000 a month just to operate a medical facility to treat the approximately 1,000 animals handled at the Waystation in the course of a year, she said.

The last fund-raiser, in September, drew 10,000 people, she said, even though it was classified as a private event.

Both Collette and O’Sullivan said the permit problem is not related to the work of the center.