The Stanislaus Wildlife Care Center will hold its annual "Day With Wildlife" today at Fox Grove Fishing Access in Hughson. The event opens at 10 a.m. and closes at 3 p.m. Admission is free.
The public can get close-up views of hawks, snakes, squirrels, foxes and other animals. Following each talk, a docent will walk around with the animal so you can get an up close look and ask questions.
The public may meet a new burrowing owl named Barnaby and a new ground squirrel named Loki.
The event also featured a barbecued tri-tip meal for sale as well as the sale of slushies, sodas, cookies and cakes. There will be kids' activities, raffle, silent auction, and T-shirt sale.
Kids activities include face painting, crafts, and owl pellet dissection. Children may tear apart a wild owl pellet and find the bones of the animal it ate. They can also look at the charts and try to figure out if the owl ate a mouse, gopher, lizard or bird. And participants may keep the bones if they wish.
There will be videos of many of the animals the center has rehabilitated and released as well as x-rays of injured animals. The public is invited to try to figure out what happened to eat injured animal.
A schedule of the animal presentations is on the website. Visit the website www.StanislausWildlife.org for details, raffle prizes, and directions.