BAKERSFIELD, CA — The California Living Museum (CALM) is moving forward with a 20-year plan to expand its grounds. The project will improve habitats for native California wildlife on 40 acres of recently acquired land.

The facility is located on the eastern outskirts of Bakersfield. It will use the land to build larger habitats for grizzly bears, wolves, and birds of prey, such as hawks and owls. According to reporting by SFGATE, the new space will offer these animals much more room to roam than their current enclosures.

This expansion continues the mission of Michael Hopkins and the volunteers who founded CALM in 1983. They wanted to showcase local plants and animals instead of species from other regions. The facility is certified by the Zoological Association of America and specializes in caring for California’s unique wildlife.

The museum expanded its medical services in early 2023 with the opening of the Wonderful Wildlife Care Clinic. This veterinary hospital provides emergency surgery and rehabilitation for both the museum’s permanent residents and animals being prepared for release back into nature.

The museum also manages a successful program that rescues, rehabilitates, and releases endangered kit foxes into the San Joaquin Valley. This work supports a species that has been listed as endangered since 1967.

Additionally, the facility serves as a main inland center for the UC Davis network that cares for animals affected by oil spills. It has the capacity to treat up to 200 animals at once.

Several animals that cannot survive on their own now live permanently at the facility:

  • Two male California condors, tagged as numbers 50 and 24, live at the museum. Condor 50 was rescued after an injury left him unable to fly. Condor 24 was raised in captivity and does not have the skills to survive in the wild.
  • Three female mountain lions named Sage, Misty, and Laurel live here because their injuries prevent them from returning to the wild.
  • A female desert bighorn sheep named Sierra is about 20 years old. She has lived much longer than the 14 or 15 years most sheep live in the wild.

The annual HolidayLights event, the CALM Foundation’s largest fundraiser, supports the museum’s programs. The winter display features more than 3 million lights and attracts tens of thousands of visitors each year.