Wildlife baby season is here, and the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach have its hands full with hundreds of baby critters.

The center works with sick, injured and orphaned animals from around Orange County and its surrounding areas with the goal to release them back into the wild.

“When animals start to have babies, they might end up orphaned for one reason or another and they’ll end up in care here,” said Jaret Davey, volunteer coordinator at the care center. “We work with … literally thousands of baby animals every year.”

According to Davey, animals tend to mate during the springtime, which blooms a ton of babies. He added that the center has close to 400 animals in the center’s care as of right now with most of them being babies.

Animals like ducklings, possums and hummingbirds can all be found inside the center receiving care. In 2023, the center worked with over 219 individual species of animals.

Davey says many people’s first reaction to seeing an animal in distress is to capture or handle the injured creature, but it’s not always the right answer. People are advised to contact the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center or their local wildlife rehabilitation center to make sure they’re doing the right thing.

“For example, a baby owl, we might not want to bring into care right away because if that bird’s parents are still around, — as good of care as we can do — the owl’s natural parents can, of course, give it much, much better care,” said Davey. “The goal is for always for an animal to be with its real parents if that’s possible.”

The Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center runs almost entirely off donations and support from the public. The springtime baby bloom has the center busier than usual and they are expecting to care for thousands of more animals throughout the year.