May 20, 2023 - Saturday - Today we were in Huntington Beach, CA to visit the Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center. The Center is dedicated to the rehabilitation and release of injured and orphaned native wildlife. It's not open to the public but several times each year they do have fund raising events so we came today for their 2023 WWCC Annual Wildlife Baby Shower. Although we expected it to be crowded, it's the only way to see the facility.
There were many vendors there, as well as activities for the kids.
Our tour started with their permanent exhibit area.
Then we got to go into the hospital area, specifically the nursery. As they mature, the animals are brought to another area of the hospital that wasn't open for the tour. The policy in the nursery is no photography, which was disappointing. We saw dozens of baby ducks that were orphaned and rescued, as well as a large red-tailed hawk, sparrows and baby hummingbirds. The hummingbirds were only about one inch long. At the next area everyone took out their phones so I was able to get a few shots in.
This lady was bottle feeding a baby raccoon. The cage to the left held a baby possum.
It was nice seeing all of the volunteers in action, it's a very dedicated group. The woman in front of us had been a volunteer in the past, but she couldn't handle it because of the no talking policy. Since all of the animals are released back into the wild, all human speech is avoided, for their own good. She told us she had a hard time not talking or cuddling with the babies, which we understood.
After the Center we drove up to the heart of Huntington Beach to have lunch at Duke's.
I had their grilled fish tacos on flour tortillas, with tomatillo sauce, cabbage, pico de gallo, queso fresco, chipotle salsa, guacamole and tortilla chips.
Judy had their Crispy Coconut Shrimp with lilikoi chili water, pickled cucumbers, cabbage, pasta salad and jasmine rice.
Both of our lunches were fantastic and the view can't be beat.
