Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care membership drive and open house

It isn't cheap to care for hundreds of wild birds and animals each year so Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care is holding their annual membership drive. Funds raised go to medicine, housing, equipment and food for the injured and orphaned wildlife.

Memberships start at $35 and go up to $10,000, or more. Memberships account for 20 percent of the agency's budget. Click here for membership information.

Once a year Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care opens their doors to the public. This year their open house is on July 30. More details will be released later but mark your calendars. LTWC's website is www.ltwc.org.

Meet Emma the Eagle, story by Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care

On Halloween 2015, we received an injured female bald eagle from the Emerald Bay area. Our veterinarian, Dr. Kevin Willitts, took x-rays of her wing and saw major damage to her wrist bones. He pinned them in hopes they would heal and she could fly again. But it wasn't to be. She also started getting an infection and Dr. Willitts recommended we remove part of her wing so she would not develop gangrene, which would be fatal. We attempted to get her to a facility that has a permit for permanent-care eagles, but no one wanted her. So, we decided she would be a good ambassador for LTWC.

We have been working with Emma now for about a year, and she is doing magnificently!

We have a group of volunteers who show up everyday to take her from her cage to a jess outside, where she can get sunshine and have her lunch. We have a webcam on our website for Emma's enclosure; if you'd like to see what she's up to, please visit our webcam page.

Emma eats a fish a day (or at least part of a fish, depending on the size). So, if you are a fisherman, please feel free to drop your unwanted, uncleaned fish off to us here at LTWC (1485 Cherry Hills Circle, South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150) and we will see that Emma continues to get a proper fish diet.