The Wild
Animal Orphanage on Leslie Road has a new executive director, Nicole Garcia,
who is replacing Carol Asvestas, who founded the sanctuary in 1983.
It’s been
a rocky road for the past couple of years at the WAO, with complaints regarding
animal care, environmental violations and financial fraud, but Garcia said she
knows what she is getting into. (Click for SAL Expose.)
“I’m kind
of stepping in here with a lot to handle at once,” she said. "But we have
such a strong team of people that I think it’s gonna be great.”
Asvestas'
exit as CEO caps a summer of growing concern about the WAO, including a press
conference in August where Asvestas denied allegations of mismanagement and
admitted she did not know the exact number of animal deaths that had occurred
since January.
Later
that month, the WAO Board of Directors accepted her resignation and that of her
husband Ron Asvestas, who also served in a management capacity at WAO.
Garcia, a
longtime employee and Asvestas’ daughter, was selected to serve as executive
director. Garcia said she and her mother are estranged.
“Right
now, we are in a recovery type period,“ said Garcia, “as well as building for
the future.”
With just
a few weeks under her belt as executive director, Garcia has opened the door to
agencies that previously had to fight to get onto the grounds of the Wild
Animal Orphanage.
“We’ve
actually invited the USDA in to kind of give us a little bit of advice on
different things that need to be changed,” she said.
It’s the
same with the state attorney general’s office, which recently requested years
of documents from the WAO.
“We are
providing them with everything that they had originally been asking for,”
Garcia said. “We are working with them.”
It’s a
new day for the sanctuary’s animals as well. Bright new balls and other toys
dot the cages that just a few months ago were nothing but dirt and weeds.
“We
changed a lot of the enrichment items for the animals,” Garcia said. "It’s
amazing what you see when they are just getting new smells, and they’re getting
to interact with each other, with different items. It’s really ... it’s
different.”
Garcia
wants public trust back for the WAO.
“We are trying
to be a little more transparent,” she said. “Actually our doors are going to be
very open to everybody and anybody.”
That
includes other sanctuary managers, who are offering their advice to WAO for the
first time since it opened its doors. Garcia said there was no sharing of ideas
with other sanctuaries under the old regime.
Perhaps
the biggest change will be in how Garcia plans to run the WAO. She said the
donations that support the sanctuary will mostly go to the animals, not to
administrative costs as in the past. And she’s hoping the new start for the
Wild Animal Orphanage will be an open door for the public.
“We’re
asking for volunteers,” she said. “This is going to be a very open place now.”
More to
follow.
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Developing -
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Previous
Stories
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DOING THE RIGHT
THING
Bless The Beasts...
SA's Wild Animal Orphanage Is Recovering;
Asks Help From Public
SAL
Staff - 10-14-2009
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|  | | Now that the previous management of the Wild Animal Orphanage has been replaced, and the animals are getting better care, both critters and workers seem happier, indeed inspired, by the winds of change. |
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