Moving is hard; moving with animals is harder.

Craigslist lets you search for dog- and cat-friendly rentals, but what about squirrels, raccoons, fawns and opossums? That’s a feature Lila Travis, founder and director of the Yggdrasil Urban Wildlife Rescue Center, could use right now.

Each year, Travis and a team of volunteers care for about 600 orphaned and injured wild animals on a residential property high in the Oakland hills. But soon they’ll have to find another place to do their work. The wildlife center is being evicted. 

In 2002, Travis, always an animal-lover, started Yggdrasil - whose name comes from a mythical tree - because Berkeley and Oakland had nowhere to care for wildlife. Animals from all over Oakland, Berkeley and Alameda arrive to be nursed to health and returned to the wild. Often animals have been hit by cars; others are babies who lose their mothers.

The center is an important resource for the city, said Oakland Animal Services Director Megan Webb. If it weren’t for Yggdrasil, the Oakland would have to put down many more animals.

“There's no way for us to do rehabilitation,” Webb said. “We don't even have the permits.”

In order to be on-call for emergencies, Travis lives with her family on the center’s grounds. Meanwhile, rescued animals occupy cages around the yard and in an infirmary. During the summer, the cages bustled with baby animals, including fawns, a fox, even a hummingbird. Now, as winter approaches, only opossums and squirrels remain. Luckily, fewer animals means easier moving.

“We’re trying to release the animals that are ready before the big rains start,” Travis explained as she cracked a plate of walnuts and made a pile of green beans for a quartet of baby squirrels still living in the infirmary. As the animals nibble, she points out one particularly heartening success story: a squirrel who seems to be thriving even though he was exposed to rat poison through his mother’s milk. 

When the wildlife center first moved to the property in 2004, Travis understood from the owner that it would be welcome for 30 years. With that in mind, volunteers renovated the grounds, including terracing the steep hillside and building stairs. Then this year, Travis said the landlord raised the rent and asked the center to leave. Travis fought the eviction with the Oakland rent board, but lost. She and the center have until April 2011 to vacate the property. Meanwhile, their rent has increased 66 percent, she said. 

“We’re in a bit of a difficult situation right now,” Travis said. ”We’re going to lose all of the time, money, blood, sweat and tears of hundreds of people, and we don’t know where we’re going to go.” 

The center hopes to find a permanent home with the help of the East Bay Regional Park District or the city of Oakland, both of which own vacant properties.

“We’re not asking them for money,” Travis emphasized. “All we really want is a place to be able to do the work.” 

There could be benefits to moving: better access to transit; more space; a place to host school visits. But Travis says it’s still too early to know if arrangements with public landowners will pan out. In the meantime, she and volunteers continue to care for the animals while trying to rally community support.

“When I start to get upset or feel hopeless, I think about all the really cool people that have stepped up to try to help save the wildlife center,” Travis said. “It’s really neat.”

How you can help

Most of all, the center needs money. They’re also looking for volunteers to help with fundraisers, finding a new location, packing, moving and caring for animals.

Visit the center’s website for more information.