BONSALL, Calif. (KGTV) — As a wildlife refuge for species from around the world, Wild Wonders in Bonsall is used to bringing awareness to the community.
"Our messages not only help protect the animals and give them a safe home but it also shows kids and adults how to be better stewards for the environment and how we're all interconnected. Without animals we don't have much of a humanistic aspect to the world."
Kimberly Wright has been the co-director at Wild Wonders for 16 years, experiencing all the hurdles their animals have endured.
"A couple of years ago with the Lilac fires we all had to evacuate. We were all out. Our cheetahs were out for a month we were out of the place and that was really tough for us," Kimberly said.
But while it's usually the animals who need help in a time of crisis, their caretakers are now the ones looking for relief.
"Just how people are having difficulty finding food and cleaning supplies and such in the stores, we're having difficulty especially with produce," Kimberly said. "Animals need a lot of things, it's like taking care of 120 babies."
Since the wildlife's revenue streams like their outreach programs and their on-site tours have come to a complete stop, they've turned to alternative services.
"We have prerecorded live animal presentation videos and we're also doing live zooms we call them our 'virtual safaris'. We're getting a couple of libraries that are looking at our distance learning and we're getting schools since they're starting to come on with distance learning programs," Kimberly added.
She said as long as things can continue on in somewhat of a normal capacity, they want their animals to always feel that Wild Wonders is their safe and happy place.
"They do sense a little bit of everything but we're trying to keep everything at an even keel. Super positive as if everything is normal at the site even though it's not normal for us, we have to keep it normal for the animals."