All Creatures Bright and Homeless

Hummer is a Malaysian sun bear--the smallest breed of bear in the world. A previous owner, one of thousands who acquire wild or exotic animals thinking they will make cute or novel pets, had all of her teeth and claws removed.

In 1977, the owner decided that he didn’t want Hummer anymore. Unable to live in the wild due to the imprint of human contact and her inability to hunt or gather food, Hummer found a home at the Wildlife Waystation.

Each year nearly 2,000 creatures such as Hummer find refuge, rehabilitation and even a permanent home at the Waystation, a 160-acre facility located on the northern edge of the San Fernando Valley in the Angeles National Forest.

And each year, nearly 150 volunteers, about half of them from the San Fernando Valley, support 40 full-time staffers in helping the Wildlife Waystation perform its mission of rescuing, rehabilitating and--when possible--relocating unwanted or injured wild or exotic animals.

According to Larry Baron, a Glendale kitchen and bathroom remodeler who co-chairs the Waystation’s volunteer program, permanent homes such as zoos or animal parks can’t always be found so the facility houses more than 750 animals at any one time. Among them are about 90 big cats--lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars and mountain lions--as well as bears, reptiles, primates, exotic birds and birds of prey.

From lions sent by a bankrupt safari park in New Zealand to Tweedledee and Tweedledum, a pair of owls who can’t fly because their original owner fed them improperly, the animals have one thing in common: They would probably be dead if it weren’t for the Waystation, its staff and volunteer corps.

Funded solely by private donations from individuals, groups and annual membership programs, the Wildlife Waystation has been saving animals since its inception in 1969.

An outbreak of canine distemper killed 17 of the Waystation’s big cats and the facility was under quarantine for several months, but Baron and company are gearing up to reopen the Waystation for public tours Sunday--just in time for what Waystation spokeswoman Jan Brown calls the spring “baby season.” That’s when a surge of new offspring creates a greater need for volunteers to help feed the little critters, which sometimes require food every 20 minutes.

Volunteers can begin pitching in feeding “babies” as soon as they’ve attended an orientation, held on the first and third Saturdays of each month, Baron said.

Help is also needed with outreach programs, facility tours, community events, landscaping and construction projects. To register for an orientation, call the Wildlife Waystation (818-899-5201).

Animal lovers who prefer their cats a little smaller can call Mew for Help (818-886-2986), which needs volunteers to help care for more than 200 cats at its Chatsworth facility. The organization is always in need of people willing to give a pet a permanent home, as are Friends for Pets in Sunland (818-767-5919), the Sun Valley-based Pet Rescue Assn. (818-767-4400) and the Pet Adoption program in Canoga Park (818-501-4413).

International Guiding Eyes (818-362-5834), a Sylmar-based organization that trains and provides guide dogs free of charge to blind individuals throughout the U. S. and Canada, needs volunteers to assist in fund raising by speaking on its behalf at schools, clubs and businesses and to conduct tours of its facility.

The Los Angeles Public Library Volunteer Services’ Grandparents and Books Program trains older adult volunteers to read stories to kids. The program matches adults who enjoy reading and sharing books with children to foster literacy, library use and reading. Help is also needed in the Library Adult Reading project, which provides youngsters with one-on-one literacy tutoring. Volunteers are needed at all San Fernando Valley libraries including Granada Hills (818-368-5687), Pacoima (818-899-5203) and North Hollywood (818-766-7185).

Getting Involved is a weekly listing of volunteering opportunities. Please address prospective listings to Getting Involved, Los Angeles Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth, 91311. Or fax them to (818-772-3338).