Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network opens new hospital

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network has a new hospital.

Wild animals like tiny birds now have a hospital where they can get treated in Santa Barbara.

"The hospital is coming in just in time. We need the space for all of these babies and for our team to care for them and give them the treatment they need to get back out into the wild," said Lauren Gonzales of the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network.

The Wendy McCaw Wildlife Hospital includes a songbird room, an animal kitchen, intensive care unit aviaries and more.

"This is part of our surgical suite. So we have our surgery room. And we have an x-ray room right next to each other. So in the surgery room obviously this is where our advanced procedures take place," said Ariana Katovich of the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network.

"We’ve had almost 500 to 600 animals in care of this year … so far and it’s only the end of March … we have around 150 animals in our care," said Gonzales.

Animal care staff say this new hospital will help them serve thousands of animals in need of care.

"Last year we had 52 patients in one day in May … so we expect to be really busy in the next few months," said Gonzales.

The new hospital will also allow the nonprofit organization to keep patients longer while offering more complex treatment.

"We know we’ll always be working with our wonderful partners down in Long Beach ... but we also feel it’s important and it will lower stress on the animal ... to not have to be transported all the way down to Long Beach ... If they don’t have to be," said Katovich.

The new hospital will have its official ribbon cutting in the next couple months. 

The hospital is expected to help the organization serve more animals in need of treatment.

Managers said it's a dream the Wildlife Care Network has had since the nonprofit opened in 1988.