Monte ito Miscellany
WLC Hospital manager Elaine Ibarra attending to an adult female red hawk assisted by Samatha Gerratty, and animal care assistant Liz Poffley, who brought the hawk that was a victim of a hit and run (photo by Priscilla)
by Richard Mineards
Richard covered the Royal Family for Britain’s Daily Mirror and Daily Mail, and was an editor on New York Magazine. He was also a national anchor on CBS, a commentator on ABC Network News, gossip on The Joan Rivers Show and Geraldo Rivera, host on E! TV, a correspondent on the syndicated show Extra, a commentator on the KTLA Morning News and Entertainment Tonight. He moved to Montecito 12 years ago.
WCN Hospital Underway
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anta Barbara’s 32-year-old Wildlife Care Network (WCN), which is building a two-story, 5,000 sq. ft. animal hospital on its 1.8 acre Goleta property, has raised more than $3 million of its $6 million budget, including a hefty donation of $3 million from News-Press owner Wendy McCaw and $250,000 in a grant from the Oiled Wildlife Care Network. Animal lover McCaw’s gift occurred after Ariana Katovich, WCN’s executive director, bumped into her at the trendy Coast Village Road eatery, Tre Lune, and explained the project, which will feature radiology, laboratories, and a songbird nursing wing, saving long drives by volunteers to other veterinary facilities in Long Beach, San Pedro, and Ojai. “She came the next day and com-
mitted to the donation,” says Ariana. “Needless to say, it has been a godsend and we expect to break ground in September, completing the project next year.” McCaw also donated $1 million to the charity ten years ago, which enabled it to purchase its current site for $2.5 million. The network will also soon have a resident vet, Stanford undergraduate Avery Berkowitz, 31, who starts work in May, working with more than 300 volunteers, who deal with between 40 and 60 animals daily from March to September. Montecito resident Penny Bianchi recounted rescuing a possum on a recent drive back to our Eden by the Beach from the Big Orange. “I immediately stopped the car,”
Betsy Denison and Nan Butterfield with Gretchen Lieff and Roland Bryan toasting the forthcoming building of the SBWCN hospital (photo by Priscilla)
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Wildlife Care Network supporters celebrating the new hospital (photo by Priscilla)
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MONTECITO JOURNAL
says Penny. “It was perched between a 75-foot drop and eight lanes of heavy traffic. What a nightmare! I took it straight here.” Among the party animals turning out for the Wild Wine bash were Gretchen Lieff and Miles Hartfeld, Hal Conklin, Luke Swetland, Sandy Robertson, Ann Smith, Betsy Ingalls, Sharol Siemens, Judi Weisbart, Carol Wathen, Anne Sutherland Fuchs, and Sarah McLean. This America It was a night on the tiles when tony twosome Dan and Meg Burham opened the doors to their Granada penthouse for a bash for supporters of UCSB Arts & Lectures and Harvard University professor Jill Lepore who spoke on This America: The Case for the Nation, based on her latest book, at Campbell Hall. Lepore, who is also a staff writer for The New Yorker, previously wrote the 2018 book These Truths: A History of the United States, which was a New York
“Without music, life would be a mistake” – Friedrich Nietzsche
Barbara Lowenthal and Sharon Rich at the UCSB A&L reception (photo by Grace Kathryn Photography)
Times bestseller, widely translated and published internationally. A recipient of a doctorate degree in American Studies from Yale University in 1995, Lepore joined Harvard’s his-
MISCELLANY Page 184 27 February – 5 March 2020
