Scottsdale wildlife refuge damaged by winter storm, seeking donations

PHOENIX — Not everyone — or everything — was excited about the winter storm that rocked the Valley.

While some jumped at the chance to play in the powder, the Scottsdale Wildlife Conservation Center was severely damaged from the snow.

In dire need of repairs to numerous enclosures, the wildlife refuge, celebrating its 25th anniversary, is seeking emergency financial help to get back on track.

“We had a lot of our big Mesquite trees and a lot of the Palo Verde that were so heavy with snow that the limbs broke or the whole tree came down,” Linda Searles, director of Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center, told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Saturday. “Some of those are inside enclosures and others were over them or near them so they broke a lot of things when they collapsed. We’ve got a lot of clean up to do.

“We also had a lot of shade screens on top of the enclosures to give the animals shade and we’re not used to snow here so when it snowed, all of that snow built up on the shade screens and some of the roofs caved in.”

At least 10 enclosures, housing wolves, bobcats and coyotes, collapsed under the weight of the 10 inches of snow that fell on the refuge. Many of the enclosures were completely destroyed. The frigid weather also caused pipes around the wildlife center to burst.

To properly house the animals displaced by the storm, the center is looking at $50,000 in repairs.

“We’ve had to move some of the animals out of [the damaged] enclosures and they’re going to have to pull all that debris off of the roofs and then tear the roofs down and put new roofs up,” Searles said. “It’s going to be quite expensive. And as always when you go through these kind of things, we’re going to find more things as we go.”

Although the damage was severe, no animals were hurt during the storm. A few animals, however, were being tended to at the animal hospital on site due to the cold temperatures, according to Searles.

Contractors are expected to assess the damage at the beginning of next week so the Scottsdale Wildlife Conservation Center can get a better idea of all the repairs needed, Searles added.

While the center works to repair the damaged areas, the refuge will stay open for tours.

The animal hospital, which was not damaged, will also remain open.

For more information on how to donate, visit the Scottsdale Wildlife Conservation Center’s website.

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Nailea Leon contributed to this report.

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