Care Center for Wildlife Gets $10,000

More than $10,000 has been raised to keep open Orange County’s only state-licensed center for sick, injured or orphaned wild animals, but fund-raisers say 10 times that amount is needed to run the center for one year under a nonprofit organization.

The state-funded North Orange County Regional Occupational Center, scheduled to close April 15 because of budget cutbacks, could be taken over by the Alliance for Education if enough financial support is obtained, said the alliance’s president, veterinarian Joel Pasco.

Pasco, who works with Greg Hickman, instructor at the center for the last 15 years, said more than $10,000 in donations and pledges has been received. Also, state Assemblyman Ross Johnson (R-Fullerton) plans to seek a special, one-time allocation of $50,000 for the center during state budget hearings. The money would come from the sale of personalized vehicle license plates, said legislative assistant Linda Brown.

At a meeting last month between Pasco, Hickman and Thomas A. Kurtz, superintendent of the North Orange County ROP, it was tentatively agreed that the alliance would take over the operation of the center if it could show sufficient revenues to operate for an initial three-month period. Thereafter, the undertaking would be subject to quarterly review by the ROP board of trustees.

Hickman said a new location for the center, possibly somewhere in the south county, is being sought.