Costa Mesa to consider paying wildlife nonprofit for services long rendered, never comped

For years, volunteers at the Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center have been treating injured or ill wildlife brought into the Huntington Beach facility by animal control officers, residents and others from Costa Mesa without receiving any reimbursement.

More than 450 wild mammals and birds came into the center in 2022 requiring food, boarding, medical care, rehabilitation and release at a cost of about $125 per animal. Yet the city historically paid nothing for services rendered.

But all that could soon change, as officials consider entering into a professional services agreement with the nonprofit care center that would provide $57,000 annually, with an additional 10% contingency for a higher census or unforeseen costs.

Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center Executive Director Debbie McGuire, left, and volunteer Maddy Chiavazza hold 2-week-old baby raccoons during the Wildlife Baby Shower on May 20.

(File Photo)

The Costa Mesa City Council will be asked to vote on the matter in its regular meeting Tuesday, roughly five months after local resident Sue Lester, a volunteer at the wildlife center, raised it during an April 4 council meeting.

Since then, both Lester and Center Executive Director Debbie McGuire have met with officials at the Costa Mesa Police Department, which oversees the city’s animal control services, and city staff to discuss the work being done by one of just a few wildlife nonprofits in Orange County.

“The police department has been absolutely phenomenal in learning the process of what the wildlife center does, asking questions and really trying to get up to speed on what it is that happens there,” Lester said Friday.

“I’m thrilled to see there’s an agreement on the agenda, and I’m hopeful the City Council will be in favor of it.”

Costa Mesa currently pays the Newport Center Animal Hospital $240,000 annually to treat domestic animals rounded up by animal control officers. The nonprofit Priceless Pets Rescue takes in domestic animals seen by the vet, at a rate of $25 per animal.

Additionally, those entities have the ability to generate some revenue through adoption fees or owners’ retrieval of lost animals.

But for orphaned, sick or injured wild birds and mammals found in Costa Mesa, the Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center, opened in 1998, is the only game in town. And the cost of doing business, like most things, has only increased in recent years, according to McGuire.

She said the center was forced to evacuate hundreds of animals to the Santa Ana Zoo after weather forecasts indicated Tropical Storm Hilary could send strong winds and rainfall toward Huntington Beach. No animals were harmed, but the weather event caused roughly $33,000 in damage to the center.

“The bright side is at least Costa Mesa is going to come forward and start supporting us,” McGuire said. “Because the other option would be we’d have to close our doors, then there wouldn’t be anywhere else to go.”

Should the City Council approve the agreement with the care center, the nonprofit will be paid retroactively to July 1, the first day of the current fiscal year. Lester said she’d like to discuss the option of the center’s receiving compensation at least back to the start of 2023.

“I don’t think that’s an unreasonable ask,” she added.

The Costa Mesa City Council meets Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the first-floor Council Chambers of City Hall, 77 Fair Drive. For more, visit costamesaca.gov or call (714) 754-5000.