ESWC Wild Spirits Night

Last weekend, I volunteered at Wild Spirits, which is the Eastern Sierra Wildlife Care’s annual fundraiser held at Mountain Light Gallery on Main Street. Eastern Sierra Wildlife Care (ESWC) is a local organization that rehabilitates injured wildlife and educates the community on native organisms and the environment. The Wild Spirits fundraiser is composed of a silent auction, an informational slideshow, and door prizes. At the fundraiser, ESWC also displays several “wildlife ambassadors” that are unable to return to the wild, such as Spirit the red-tailed hawk, Chipsqueak the chipmunk, and Razzle the raven. When I got chances to step away from the t-shirt table I was working at, I surveyed attendees to find out what inspired them to attend the fundraiser, and what they believe we should do to help local wildlife and protect their habitats.

First, I spoke with Linda Baptie, who was volunteering at the door prize table. Baptie used to work for ESWC, and was a falconer for a year, handling Karma, a red-tailed hawk. Today, she is still involved with the organization and visits various local schools to teach students about wildlife. What Baptie loves most about wild animals is their unpredictability. “You never know what they’re going to do,” she informed me. “Especially wild birds.” According to Baptie, one of the best things a person can do to help wildlife, such as “beautiful” raptors like Karma, is “whenever you see fishing line, wrap it up and take it home.” Fishing line not only pollutes habitats, but can wrap around wildlife, causing injuries.

After speaking with Linda Baptie, I crossed the bustling room to find another person to interview. I caught up with Linda Emerson, who often substitutes at BUHS. Emerson “comes every year,” because Eastern Sierra Wildlife Care does “great work on not a whole lot of money.” Emerson is always delighted by the silent auction, where paintings, photography, and crafts by local artists (and donations from local businesses) are bid on by attendees to support ESWC. Emerson’s advice for maintaining an environment suitable for wildlife to thrive in is to “not tear up the desert [with] illegal trails and roads.” Emerson’s message is similar to one Mr. Rowan discusses in his environmental science class – roads can destroy the homes of wildlife by fragmenting, or dividing, their habitats. “Be respectful,” Emerson assuredly added. “Use the roads and trails that are already there.”  

As the fundraiser continued, I sold t-shirts, entered a bidding war (I lost), and watched as wildlife lovers mingled. Slowly, the bidding tables began to close down, and lucky winners of the silent auction swung by to pick up their loot. But before the fundraiser drew to a close, I interviewed Cindy Kamler, the founder and head of Eastern Sierra Wildlife Care. Kamler had been rehabilitating wildlife for “eight or nine years” prior to moving to Bishop, and had not established ESWC with the intentions of it becoming what it is today – a community staple that has spread wildlife awareness across the region (ESWC receives calls from as far as Ridgecrest and Walker Lake, Nevada).

Kamler told me that ESWC gets “intensely busy for a few months” when planning and prepping for Wild Spirits, although the process has began to run a lot smoother now that they are in their eleventh year of hosting the fundraiser. The fundraiser pays off, both in financial support and community support, both of which are necessary fuel to keep ESWC alive and well. And to keep wildlife and their habitats alive and well, Kamler believes “that everything is connected” and that we “must learn to understand the role that all living creatures play in the environment.” By understanding the interconnectedness of the natural world, we can preserve wildlife and keep their habitats healthy.  

Don’t forget to drop by the Wild Spirits fundraiser next year, because if you are enthusiastic about animals, especially local wildlife, then Eastern Sierra Wildlife Care is a great organization to support.