By Cheryl Millham

Things are really hopping at Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care.

To bring you up to date, I would like to list all of our current occupants, which you can expect to see if you visit us for our annual Open House on Aug. 5th (10am to 4pm).

What a wonderful event we expect to have. There will be so much to see.

We have three bobcats, five bear cubs, 13 raccoons, three golden eagles, a sharp-shinned hawk, a red-tailed hawk, a sparrow hawk (American Kestrel), a saw-whet owl (one of the smallest owls in the United States), along with two ravens, several squirrels, chipmunks, songbirds and a river otter.

We have lots of steller’s jays and robins, including three mountain blue birds, which we very seldom receive at LTWC.

What is our annual Open House? Once a year, California Fish & Game allows LTWC to open our doors to the public and let them come into our compound. LTWC volunteers will take groups of people around the center and show them the birds and animals in house and relay the stories of how they came into our care.

We will have LTWC T-shirts and other products for sale.

Upstairs, in our clinic, there will be chairs set up where you will be able to sit and watch the bears and other birds and animals playing on our closed circuit BEAR TV. We have nine cameras in different cages for your enjoyment.

The BEAR League will be set up with literature and be happy to speak with you about how to co-exist with Tahoe bears.

Back downstairs for some cake (provided by MontBleu) and punch.

So, plan to drop by Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care (1485 Cherry Hills Circle, South Lake Tahoe) on Aug. 5 between 10am and 4pm.

For additional information, call (530) 577.2273 or go to our website.

Cheryl Millham is executive director of Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care on the outskirts of South Lake Tahoe.