Jay working with an adult Brown Pelican

It is with great sadness that I share the news that one of our most beloved and respected wildlife pioneers, Jay Holcomb, passed away on June 10th of kidney cancer. Because of Jay, I have had some of the greatest wildlife experiences of a lifetime.  

I first met Jay in the summer of 2008 at International Bird Rescue Center, where he was Executive Director until his death. I had always heard wonderful things about him and, in fact, he was known in the wildlife rehabilitation world as a legend because of his vast experience as a professional wildlife rehabilitator and his ground-breaking techniques and leadership in the field of oiled wildlife care. I was hoping to be lucky enough to get a quick meeting with him, but we ended up talking for almost three hours! I felt like I had known him forever and there were so many things we could talk about pertaining to wildlife. We also discovered we were both at Marin Humane Society way back in 1972. He was 22 years old and starting his first job as an Animal Control Officer.  I was 12 years old starting my first volunteer job. I used to watch the Animal Control Officers leave in their vehicles in the morning and promised myself that someday I would be working with wildlife.

Jay is the man responsible for teaching my daughter, Danielle Mattos (our Animal Care Director) and I about oiled wildlife spill work. He gave us the opportunity to be part of rescue and care teams working oil spills all over the country. I can't think of anything that has been more rewarding. Rarely in life do you get the opportunity to meet another person who is such a magnificent role- model, and at the same time has impacted so many lives - humans and wildlife alike. He has helped countless other rehabilitators  learn valuable aspects of wildlife care and conservation. One of our own volunteers, Director of Native Songbird Care and Conservation, Veronica Bowers, shares a heartfelt moment with Jay in the picture below.  He helped Veronica band songbirds to monitor post-release success.

Jay and Veronica

Because of our love and appreciation for everything that wildlife pioneer Jay Holcomb has accomplished during his lifetime, we have named our Raptor Recovery Center in his honor so we will forever be reminded of this man's love for wildlife. International Bird Rescue Center has a saying:"Every Bird Matters" and Jay lived by those words and showed it through his actions. We feel the same way. Thank you Jay, for the everlasting impact you had on so many lives, including my own.

Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue's Raptor Recovery Center