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Volunteer Changes His Life To Spend Time Saving Animals

WALNUT CREEK (KPIX 5) -- An East Bay man gave up his tech career to leave more time to volunteer to help Bay Area wildlife. And the result has been life-changing for countless creatures.

It's a challenge Scott Smith looks forward to every day.

"It actually kind of raises your anxiety a little bit," he said, taking his place next to the veterinarian at the Lindsay Wildlife Museum's rehab hospital in Walnut Creek. An injured animal had just arrived.

"When you get the animal, you take it right in for treatment, while you are getting all the information about how well he's doing," Smith explained.

Smith has been volunteering at the museum for three years, spending 15 to 20 hours a week helping to rehabilitate injured wildlife, from small mammals and reptiles to birds like the red tailed hawk he was nurturing when we caught up with him.

"I do a variety of things there: help medicate and feed the animals -- everyone has their own special diets.. things that they have and don't have .. their likes and dislikes  -- cleaning out the aviaries with a hose and brush, it's a mix."

Lindsay's Executive Director Norma Bishop calls Smith's contribution "astonishing."

"From cleaning cages to caring for injured animals, to cleaning bats teeth!  I'll come by and say, 'Hi Scott,' and he is just head down, working, working, working, because that's what he's focused on," Bishop said.

Scott's appreciation for California wildlife began, ironically, in the midwest.

"I grew up in Nebraska where there is virtually no wildlife," he said. "So I've always been really excited since I moved out here to see wildlife -- to see coyotes and skunks and possums and everything even in my own backyard!

A tech job brought Scott to the Bay Area. He worked at Pac Bell, a couple of start-ups, and then Intel. Then he left the corporate world behind to follow his passion, starting his own business to give him more time for volunteering.

"There is no doubt the day you release an animal that you have taken care of is the most rewarding; the chance to see the work that you've done all the care you've put into it," he explained. "People don't realize how delicate the ecosystem really is. A little change will make a big difference and all of a sudden you can see things happening that you didn't expect."

Bishop said Smith's contribution, along with all of the volunteers make a huge difference.

"Like most non profits, you start off with volunteers, you don't have professional paid staff. They are the foundation of this organization. It's because of their good hearts that this exists today to share with the public."

Smith says there's a big motivation for all of them:

"It's a chance to heal our relationship with nature."

So for helping to heal California's native wildlife, this week's Jefferson Award in the Bay Area goes to Scott Smith.

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