Pasadena Wildlife Rescue Center is desperately searching for a new home after the landlord sells his property to a housing developer.
Cleo Watts runs the Critter Care Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center to provide critical care to diseased or injured animals in the larger Los Angeles area.
Her center also played a key role in rescuing and caring for wildlife during the deadly Eaton fire.
Now Watts is in a tough spot after her landlord sells the property where her centre is located to a gorgeous apartment developer.
A family of young raccoons being cared for by Cleo Watts at the Critter Care Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in Pasadena. (KTLA) Wildlife rescuer Cleo Watts feeds wounded parrots. (Cleo Watts) A young raccoon caring for Cleo Watts at the Critter Care Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in Pasadena. (Cleo Watts) A family of young opossums who Cleo Watts cares at the Clitter Care Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in Pasadena. (Cleo Watts) An opossum cared for by Cleo Watts at the Clitter Care Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in Pasadena. (Cleo Watts) The redheaded hawk that Cleo Watts helped Ojai move to a professional rehabilitation center amid the 48-hour federal guidelines that are important to save his life. (KTLA)
“Our landlords will be demonstrating and building gorgeous apartments, so they are basically forced to close our doors or desperately need to find another place,” she told KTLA’s Jennifer McGraw. “And it’s baby season, so it’s a bit scary.”
Currently, Watts is rehabilitating several baby raccoons. She cared for them for eight months before bringing them back into the wild. However, with no new locations set aside, Watts is worried about his future and the animals he needs help.
“Literally, there’s very little raccoon resource, and it’s also a specific permit other than a wildlife rehabilitation license,” said Lindsay Murray, a volunteer at the center.
Watts described her nonprofit as a labor of love and said she cared about diseases and injured wildlife that would otherwise have no chance of survival.
“They are creatures and they deserve respect and love,” Watts said. “They are perceptive beings and they deserve it, so why not give them that?”
She wants to find a new place soon so she can continue to care for the wildlife she needs most in Southern California.
Anyone with available space or would like to donate or seek out the services of Cleo’s Cliter Care Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center can contact Watt here.
