Eagles featured residents of aviary
by Earl Bates

Residents are invited to the Humane Society Animal Shelter and Adoption Center on Saturday especially to meet two new members of the Ojai community, a bald eagle and a golden eagle.
"The eagles are just absolutely incredible," said Tim Dewar, director of public relations for the Ventura County Humane Society
And thanks to extra efforts by some generous people, the eagles have a new part-time home at the Humane Society's shelter on Bryant Street. "You are more than welcome to see the new aviary, it's a fabulous structure."
The eagles and their new specially built aviary will be a feature of Saturday's celebration of the Ventura County Humane Society's 70th anniversary.
Ojai is very lucky to have these two distinguished eagles, according to Kim Stroud, director of Ojai Raptor Center, the nonprofit organization responsible for taking care of the birds.
These eagles can never become pets, but Stroud explained they have a special educational role as ambassadors from the wild world of raptors. "These eagles will be community members," she said.
These eagles are healthy, although they will never be able to fly because of injuries they have suffered. They have been chosen and trained for their role as educational birds. "We didn't want one that was just going to sit in a cage, we wanted one we could take out to schools and around the community," said Stroud.
Liberty, the bald eagle, recently arrived from Alaska. Shytan, the golden eagle, has been an educational bird at Ojai Raptor Center for several years. The eagles will be at the Humane Society one day per week, usually Saturday. When not out in the community doing educational work the eagles will be living at their main residence, the Ojai Raptor Center.
The new aviary at the Humane Society was funded by a generous gift from Lynn and Frank Kirk. "We also had help from Ojai Concrete, Terry Lumber, Fence Factory, Door Outlet and from Robert Del Castillo, he designed and built it," said Stroud.
Ojai Vons has been donating trout and salmon for the bald eagle, said Stroud. Opportunities for symbolic adoption of the birds are available and would be a big help in feeding and caring for them, she said. Costs for each eagle are about $1,500 per year just for food and basic health care. In addition to the eagles, Ojai Raptor Center is responsible for the care, feeding and housing of 20 other birds that are available for community education programs.
These eagles are wonderful educational creatures, but they are wild and will never be available for adoption. Many dogs, cats and sometimes other domestic animals are available for adoption into good homes through the Humane Society.
"We have a lot more programs than just our adoptions," said Dewar. The Humane Society has a pet therapy program. "We take shelter animals and volunteer-owned animals into nursing homes and long-term care facilities to visit with the residents," he said. "It keeps the people in the facilities in touch with animals and it helps socialize our animals while they are waiting for a home."
The Ventura County Humane Society also has a pet education program for schools, a low-cost spay and neuter clinic and offers investigation of abused and neglected animals. A volunteer program at the shelter in Ojai and at their thrift store in Ventura helps provide opportunities for people interested in helping make a local contribution to animal welfare.
"In addition to celebrating our 70th anniversary we are trying to adopt out as many animals as possible," said Dewar. June is Adopt-a-Cat Month at the Humane Society. "We are offering the option to choose another one at no extra cost so they can have a feline friend."
The Saturday celebration will include a parking lot sale "with a lot of great deals on different things, particularly doghouses and pet carriers," said Dewar. Also, pizza, veggieburgers and barbecued corn will be for sale. "The proceeds, as they do at our thrift store, will help support the services here at the Humane Society."
Thousands of people and pets have been through the Humane Society over the years, said Dewar. "We still get letters from people who say something like 'I adopted my dog from you 20 years ago and I would just like to thank you for being there.' So this is a time for people to stop by and celebrate."
The open house celebration will be from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. at the Humane Society Animal Shelter and Adoption Center, 402 Bryant St. Residents are welcome to call the society at 646-6505 for more information.

© 2002 The Ojai Valley News

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