Volunteers’ Forum for the California Raptor Center

Dear Visitor:

The group running this webpage, Volunteers’ Forum for the California Raptor Center, is dedicated to the preservation of wildlife in a human-dominated world. In particular, we are committed to the California Raptor Center in Davis, California. We want the public to see the Raptor Center for the extraordinary entity it is and to celebrate it for the extraordinary work it does. We cannot speak for the University, the Center’s parent organization, nor for the its Veterinary Medicine Teaching Hospital, which provides the medical expertise for the injured raptors brought to the Center, and which uses the Center’s birds for training veterinarians in wildlife medicine and for its development of ground-breaking treatments for the birds in the Center’s care.

Indeed, this means that we cannot speak for the Raptor Center in any official capacity at all. Though we work there with all our abilities, our learning, and our love, we may not say “we” or “our” in talking about the things that take place at the Center. 

But we can and do speak for the particular birds that live there, those magnificent creatures whose fate is important not just to us, but to the state of California, and to the members of the public that have visited them, from around the world, and those who have brought injured birds to the Center for treatment, and those who have learned from them, and gloried in them for 40 years.

One of those birds has been at the Center since 1982. Aquila, Golden Eagle extraordinaire, we salute you. This is for you and for your fellow residents at CRC.

Volunteers’ Forum for the California Raptor Center

Nearly 40 years ago, the California Raptor Center in Davis, California, opened its doors to injured and orphaned hawks, eagles, falcons, and owls – magnificent creatures who ride the wind and hunt on the wing. Working with the veterinarians at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and with its own trained staff and volunteers, CRC has become an outstanding rehabilitation and educational organization, an asset to California and to nature lovers everywhere.

Every year, 200 or more raptors are brought to CRC for care, from the threatened Swainson’s Hawk to the fierce Great Horned Owl, from the powerful Golden Eagle to the tiny Saw-whet Owl. In total, thousands of birds have been cared for there. Some are injured and need medical treatment and physical conditioning. About half are orphans – some even come in as eggs!

All need specialized care. Adult raptors must have extraordinarily precise vision and flight in order to hunt successfully. Owls need accurate hearing, as well. All these birds must have supple, powerful feet in order to kill their prey.

For their part, babies need great quantities of the right kinds of protein, calcium, and other nutrients to grow properly and to develop strong bones and muscles. From egg to fledgling and release takes up to three months.

Of all the birds CRC treats, adults and young alike, 60 to 65 percent live to fly and hunt in the wild once again.

So – What’s Wrong With This Wonderful Picture?

In the economic downturn, the California Raptor Center lost its official funding. To survive, the Center now depends entirely on donations. They are asking individuals, corporations, and nature groups everywhere to help. They are seeking to raise nearly $200,000, their yearly budget, which covers food, housing, and the necessary expert care.

Note: This website was created and is being managed by a group of concerned nature lovers, Help Save Hawks. Some of us are volunteers at CRC and elsewhere. We believe CRC is a special place, run by special people, and inhabited by magnificent creatures. Our struggle is to help make sure the organization we value for its care of raptors and for its education of the public on these birds and the part they play in keeping our human-dominated world “natural” in some real sense of that world.