Desert Wildlife Center

08/22/2026

🌟 Could your pet be our next Pet Star? 🌟

The Pet Star 2027 Photo Contest kicks off August 15! Enter your favorite photo of your dog, cat, bird, small pet—or any other animal you think deserves the spotlight. 🐾

The pet with the most votes will be crowned our 2027 Pet Star Champion and featured on the cover of the Pet Star 2027 calendar!

Best of all, every entry and every vote benefits Greater Palm Springs Animal Allies and supports the work happening across all three of our organizations:

🐾 Palm Springs Animal Shelter
🦉 Desert Wildlife Center
🩺 Desert Community Animal Center

📸 $25 to enter
🗳️ $1 per vote (5-vote minimum)
📅 August 15–September 30

Enter early, start sharing, and rally your pet’s biggest fans!

Enter, vote & learn more:
gpsanimalallies.org/petstar

Your pet already has star power. Now it’s time to share it! ✨

08/21/2026

JOIN US ON ZOOM at our next
What’s Wild at the Desert Wildlife Center Livestream on Thursday, August 27, from 4:30–5:30 PM!

RSVP to get ZOOM LINK

EVENT IS FREE- JUST RSVP (link in bio and below)
https://secure.qgiv.com/for/deswilcen/event/wwatdwclc/?blm_aid=81078

Hosted by Mikah Curtis, Director of the Desert Wildlife Center, and Dr. Tianna Grant, Veterinarian, this one-hour livestream will provide an inside look at the work happening at our wildlife rehabilitation center.

Mikah and Dr. Grant will take you on a behind-the-scenes tour of the facility, introduce you to some of our current wildlife patients, and share stories about recent wildlife releases.
All you need to participate is a cellphone, tablet, or computer with an internet connection.

08/05/2026

Happy Owl Awareness Day! Desert Wildlife Center has cared for many owl patients this year. You can help owls by avoiding rodenticides and saving any tree trimming to fall or winter.

Thank you for helping to protect these magnificent birds!

Photo: Brad Weaver/Unsplash

07/28/2026

Love wildlife? Now you can wear your support! 🦉🌵

The Desert Wildlife Center now has an online merch store, with T-shirts, totes, hats and more—all helping support the care of injured, orphaned and sick native wildlife right here in the Coachella Valley.

While a few items are available at the Palm Springs Animal Shelter, our online store is the place to find the full collection.

And your support truly matters. The Desert Wildlife Center is fully donor-funded, receiving no funding from the City or other government agencies. Every purchase helps make our work for local wildlife possible.

Shop, support wildlife, and show a little DWC pride.
https://desert-wildlife-center.square.site/

07/24/2026

It’s our anniversary! Today marks one year since we welcomed our first patient to Desert Wildlife Center!

With your support and donations, the Desert Wildlife Center was able to help 745 animals since opening our doors one year ago.

DWC has collaborated with other wildlife rehabbers, state and federal wildlife agencies, and wildlife experts to provide specialized veterinary care and give these wild animals a second chance at life. We’ve cared for great horned owlets who fell out of nests, songbirds who flew into windows during migration, rabbits who have been attacked by cats, opossums who have fallen in pools, and hundreds of other cases with the goal of giving them the necessary tools they need to heal and get back into the wild where they belong.

Thank you for the support of all of you — our volunteers, our donors, rescuers of injured wildlife and all who have cheered us on from the sidelines!



Learn more about us at desertwildlifecenter.org

07/16/2026

It’s World Snake Day! Snakes are an essential part of our ecosystem. They eat rodents and are also prey for bigger animals. Some call them the “keeper of balance.” To mark this special day, check out this cool video of a California Lyre Snake just doing his thing…
🐍

07/01/2026

Temporary Wildlife Intake Closure 🦉

Due to a high volume of wildlife patients currently in our care, Desert Wildlife Center will be temporarily closed to new wildlife intake from July 1 through July 6.

This brief closure allows our team to focus on providing critical care to the animals already in our facility.

If you find an animal and are unsure whether it needs help, please call our Wildlife Helpline at (760) 203-5500.

We truly appreciate your patience and understanding as we continue caring for the wildlife that depends on us. 💛

06/25/2026

Happy Pollinator Week!

We are celebrating by sharing this amazing bee photo by Yvonne Mitchell, one of the finalists in our photography contest this spring. Let's support our pollinators by planting native plants and avoiding pesticide use in our gardens. Thank you for helping bees, birds, bats and other pollinators!

06/24/2026

It’s not just tree trimming that can harm nesting birds—cutting back hedges and shrubs during spring and summer can disturb them too. If you care about protecting local wildlife, please hold off on trimming trees, shrubs, and hedges until September or October, once nesting season has passed.

Wildlife experts in the Coachella Valley are urging homeowners, HOAs, and cities to reconsider summer tree trimming schedules, warning that the practice overlap