azcheetah2
Well-Known Member
Located near 156th Street and Dynamite in North Scottsdale, the SW Wildlife Conservation Center is about a 10 minute drive from the Phx Herp Society so I made arrangements to tour both facilities on the same day, which proved to be difficult since the earlier tour lasted longer than I thought it would and I didn't have much time to get to the other facility.
The SWCC is a fairly small facility located on 10 acres, but it is far from being crowded. We were only shown a small portion of the animals that call the center 'home' but they all seemed to have spacious enclosures. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and was able to answer all of our questions, except one. I asked how to spell a bobcat's name and she didn't know. I later found out from the website and am not surprised she couldn't spell it. Anyway, we were shown several enclosures that contained Coyotes and heard about their stories. Many of the animals there come from Fish & Game with the hope to one day release them back into the wild. That is SWCC's main goal: release. Unfortunately, though, many started out as pets and ended up being imprinted on humans and were unreleasable. Like Tocho the mountain lion. He was born in the wild and someone killed his mother. When he saw she had a baby, he took the baby and gave him to a couple of kids, expecting them to tell their mom and have the cat given to someone who know what to do. Why the guy who killed the mom (he hit her with his car) would give Tocho to a couple of kids is beyond me, but instead of telling their mom, they kept Tocho a secret and somehow managed to hide him under their bed. By the time their mother found out about him, he was a mess. Severely underweight, 3 of his legs were broken, he had broken ribs and a broken pelvis. Fortunately he ended up at SWCC and they were able to fix his broken bones and today he weighs over 300 pounds.
Then there is Gobi. SWCC got a phone call from someone in Gilbert telling them there was some kind of wild animal under his truck. He took pictures and sent them to SWCC who identified it as a fox of some sort then went out to see how they could help. It took little encouragement to get him into a crate by laying a trail of food leading into it. Starving, he gobbled up every single bite. It wasn't long until they identified the fox as being a Fennec Fox, definitely not native to Arizona! They figure he was kept as a pet then either released or somehow got away, but he is now settling into his new home at the SWCC and will become an ambassador for the facility.
In addition to Gobi and Tocho, we also were shown some porcupines, more bobcats, a couple of Mexican Grey Wolves, some Coati (including one that had been declawed!), 3 bears and some Javelina. While at the Javelina enclosure, several horses came over and we learned that some people in North Scottsdale had turned them loose when they weren't able to afford them anymore. One of them, a mare named Blue Eyes, turned out to be pregnant and eventually gave birth to Mallagro so SWCC also is home to domestic animals.
Because SWCC's main priority is Rescue, Rehab and Release they are not open to the public on a regular basis but they do tours by appointment and they periodically have open houses and animal enrichment days. With the cost of a nominal donation, you can have a 2 hour tour (approximately) and see many southwest native animals. It was a great tour and I would definitely go back and take the tour again.
Pictures are coming soon!
The SWCC is a fairly small facility located on 10 acres, but it is far from being crowded. We were only shown a small portion of the animals that call the center 'home' but they all seemed to have spacious enclosures. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and was able to answer all of our questions, except one. I asked how to spell a bobcat's name and she didn't know. I later found out from the website and am not surprised she couldn't spell it. Anyway, we were shown several enclosures that contained Coyotes and heard about their stories. Many of the animals there come from Fish & Game with the hope to one day release them back into the wild. That is SWCC's main goal: release. Unfortunately, though, many started out as pets and ended up being imprinted on humans and were unreleasable. Like Tocho the mountain lion. He was born in the wild and someone killed his mother. When he saw she had a baby, he took the baby and gave him to a couple of kids, expecting them to tell their mom and have the cat given to someone who know what to do. Why the guy who killed the mom (he hit her with his car) would give Tocho to a couple of kids is beyond me, but instead of telling their mom, they kept Tocho a secret and somehow managed to hide him under their bed. By the time their mother found out about him, he was a mess. Severely underweight, 3 of his legs were broken, he had broken ribs and a broken pelvis. Fortunately he ended up at SWCC and they were able to fix his broken bones and today he weighs over 300 pounds.
Then there is Gobi. SWCC got a phone call from someone in Gilbert telling them there was some kind of wild animal under his truck. He took pictures and sent them to SWCC who identified it as a fox of some sort then went out to see how they could help. It took little encouragement to get him into a crate by laying a trail of food leading into it. Starving, he gobbled up every single bite. It wasn't long until they identified the fox as being a Fennec Fox, definitely not native to Arizona! They figure he was kept as a pet then either released or somehow got away, but he is now settling into his new home at the SWCC and will become an ambassador for the facility.
In addition to Gobi and Tocho, we also were shown some porcupines, more bobcats, a couple of Mexican Grey Wolves, some Coati (including one that had been declawed!), 3 bears and some Javelina. While at the Javelina enclosure, several horses came over and we learned that some people in North Scottsdale had turned them loose when they weren't able to afford them anymore. One of them, a mare named Blue Eyes, turned out to be pregnant and eventually gave birth to Mallagro so SWCC also is home to domestic animals.
Because SWCC's main priority is Rescue, Rehab and Release they are not open to the public on a regular basis but they do tours by appointment and they periodically have open houses and animal enrichment days. With the cost of a nominal donation, you can have a 2 hour tour (approximately) and see many southwest native animals. It was a great tour and I would definitely go back and take the tour again.
Pictures are coming soon!
