Some of you who have followed me in the past may know about this wonderful little zoo called The Wildlife Learning Center. WLC cares for a few dozen wild and exotic animals and treats them as "ambassadors" to help teach the public about wildlife conservation. What is so wonderful about WLC, is that many of the animals in there care are rescues. Many were illegally kept as pets and were either turned over or turned in to WLC for proper care. Others were animals born in the wild, but injury or acclimation to humans kept them from being able to survive in their natural habitats. Still others were exotic pets who grew too large or otherwise difficult to care for by their original owners. Without WLC, all of these rescued animals would be seriously ill or dead.

Besides offering animals topnotch care, WLC is an amazing place to visit. This zoo is small, so visitors get to see the animals more up close and intimately than larger zoos. Even better, many of their animals are trained to interact with people, so they are able to offer visitors one-on-one interactions with the animals! Everyone I know who has been to WLC loves it!

WLC is a nonprofit organization, and they rely on the public to raise the money they need to care for their animals and offer education to children and adults alike. This year, they find themselves struggling because of the economy. They need to raise $48,000 to get through 2013, so they are reaching out with an IndieGogo campaign.  Please check out their IndieGogo page and consider helping them out. Each donation level offers perks for anyone who can come to visit, such as free passes for you and guests and free "animal encounters" with creatures such as owls, sloths, porcupines, fennec foxes or even their great, big, beautiful Siberian Lynx, Boomer!!

If you donate, you'll be helping all these guys:



Cleo the Fennec Fox was kept illegally as a pet. He became extremely ill from improper veterinary care and suffered permanent neurological damage which still causes him to have seizures. Now that he lives at WLC, he has the special care he needs and his life is enriched by the other fennec foxes he gets to live with.



Eddie the Spider Monkey was born in a laboratory. He was destined to be used for research but luckily for him (ironically) his mother rejected him at birth and the lab did not want to care for a newborn, so Eddie was taken in by WLC. Now instead of enduring a life of small cages and medical testing, he gets to live happily in trees with other spider monkeys.



Danali the Bald Eagle was born in the wild. She was found with an injured wing that never healed properly despite rehabilitation. There is no way she could survive in the wild without being able to fly, so she now lives at WLC. I had never seen a bald eagle up close until I met her!



Nanuk the Arctic Fox once lived a neglected, sad life in a FUR FARM! Now instead of being someone's coat, he lives in a large pen with plenty of enriching, natural elements with several other foxes to keep him company.



Fluffy the Alligator and his 2 siblings were purchased illegally as babies and raised in a bath tub with not much else to eat than hot dogs -- hardly a healthy diet. As a result, their growth has been stunted, and no one quite knows how old they are. They remain small but live happily now at WLC in a proper enclosure and offer visitors a rare close look at these magnificent predators!

To find out more about WLC and the animals they care for, visit them at www.wildlifelearningcenter.com

To donate to their IndieGogo campaign, please visit www.indiegogo.com/projects/wildlife-learning-center-needs-your-support-to-care-for-animals As little as $15 really helps!

Thank you!!
Lauren

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