A New Home for WildCare

MEDIA RELEASE
 
Contact: Karen Wilson, Executive Director
415.453.1000, ext.15
karen@wildcarebayarea.org  
                                                    
Alison Hermance, Communications Manager
415.453.1000, ext. 24
alison@wildcarebayarea.org
 
Lorraine Silveira, Owner, Silveira Ranches
415-497-9968
rfsilv@comcast.net 
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
A New Home for WildCare
 
After an extensive multi-year search, WildCare, Marin County’s only Wildlife Hospital and Environmental Education Center, has signed a long- term lease to relocate to a site on the Silveira Ranch property in San Rafael.
 
WildCare has outgrown its current facility in Albert Park and has been seeking a new home for some time.  Last year the Silveiras approached WildCare after realizing the under-utilized “Honor Farm” site on their land might be a perfect fit with the organization’s needs.
 
Situated along the northerly portion of Smith Ranch Road, the original buildings on the 4.5-acre site housed inmates of the county jail after initially serving as military barracks built by the U.S. Army in the late 1950s.
 
This new location makes WildCare’s long overdue and critical need for expansion possible.   Existing buildings on the property will be renovated to create a new, larger hospital for wildlife patients.  Classrooms and exhibit space will be added to provide better quality and quantity of space for WildCare’s renowned Terwilliger Nature Education programs.  Wildlife Ambassadors, WildCare’s live non-releasable former patients who provide unique “nose-to-beak” education for visitors, will enjoy larger, more naturalized enclosures. The new location will allow for on-site rehabilitation of larger animals, such as fawns, coyotes and raptors.  The overall visitor experience will be enhanced with additional meeting and exhibit space in a landscape of native northern California flora.  Once construction is completed, WildCare will relocate from its current space in Albert Park, San Rafael.
 
“It has been a long process to find just the right location. But it was well worth the wait,” says Karen Wilson, WildCare’s Executive Director.  “We are confident we have found the perfect home to enhance our ability to deliver all of our programs – for wildlife, children, adults, our staff and volunteers, and the greater community at large.”  “We are planning a vibrant and interactive campus, and look forward to working with the community to make it a reality.” 
 
“Over the years, the site has served a number of significant needs, and this tradition will continue with the presence of WildCare,” says Lorraine Silveira, owner and operator of Silveira Ranches. “My late husband, Tony, was very fond of wildlife, which makes this partnership so meaningful to our family.  We have great regard for WildCare and its mission, and we are honored to be associated with it,” she adds.
 
“Those who have visited WildCare’s current facility will understand the critical need for a new home” says Susanne Lyons, WildCare’s Board President.  “We are bursting at the seams trying to maintain our ever growing programs and provide the best care to our patients. The Silveira property fulfills all of the requirements WildCare sought in a new site. It is spacious, situated in a beautiful natural setting and still very convenient to our visitors and students and only a few miles up the highway from our current location.” 
 
WildCare will pursue the necessary planning and fundraising over the coming months and looks forward to moving ahead with this exciting  project as soon as possible. 
 
WildCare leads the way in showing Bay Area people how to live well with wildlife through a complete cycle of respectful, practical and humane programs in wildlife rehabilitation and environmental education.
 
Each year WildCare treats as many as 4,000 ill, injured or orphaned wild animals of  200 different species in our wildlife rehabilitation hospital, teaches more than 40,000 Bay Area child and adult participants in our environmental education programs, assists residents and businesses with wildlife dilemmas with our Wildlife Solutions service, and answers thousands of telephone calls concerning human/wildlife interaction on our Living with Wildlife Hotline – 415.456.SAVE.
 
Silveira Ranches, comprising two dairy operations situated along the 101 Highway in Marin County, was founded in 1900 by A.F. Silveira.  Silveira, also founding president of Marin Dairymen’s Milk Company (“Marin-Dell”) headquartered in San Francisco, died in a ranch accident in 1937.  His wife, Mary E. Silveira, carried on the operations with the help of the couple’s children who eventually became their business partners.  Tony Silveira was the sole proprietor from April 2003 until his death in March 2012.  His widow, Lorraine, is the current owner and operator.