About Ojai Raptor Center

Ojai Raptor Center is a fully functional and permitted wildlife rehabilitation center, specializing in birds of prey. Every year ORC takes in 1,000-1,500 sick, injured or orphaned birds (including many non-raptor birds, and a small percentage of mammals) with the hopes of rehabilitating them and releasing them back to the wild. The Center’s busiest time of year is nesting season, when the center becomes inundated with orphaned birds that need help to grow, learn to fly, feed themselves and socialize before their release. ORC’s four-acre campus is comprised of a medical room and hospital, as well as outdoor flight pens, aviaries and mews. All wildlife housing is specialized to the species that will be placed in it. The center also features the largest flight pen in California.

Ojai Raptor Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Though ORC does not receive sustained funding from government agencies; ORC is permitted by both the California Department of Fish and Wildlife as well as the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. ORC relies heavily on its community for donations. The majority of the animal patients ORC receives are also brought in directly from the public.

Ojai Raptor Center is run by a small staff and a large group of volunteers that give up their time to do wildlife education, animal care, transport, help with events, and never-ending center maintenance.

Beyond wildlife rehabilitation, ORC’s Wildlife Education Tours, Virtual Programs and Outreach Programs are supremely important to us and the work that the center does. ORC is committed to teaching the public about local raptor species, and how human interaction affects them. Through wildlife education ORC hopes to inspire people to learn more about birds of prey and how to protect them. ORC achieves wildlife education by providing educational programs with their raptor ambassadors — the non-releasable birds of prey who live and are trained at the center to be ambassadors for their species. Many people will never get the chance to learn about birds of prey live and up close. ORC also takes pride in teaching youth. ORC’s hope is that the next generation will have a love and respect for birds of prey, their important place in our ecosystem, and our shared environment.