New rehab center for Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (KGO) -- The Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care center just got the final approval from regulators to build a new modern and much larger home.

ABC7 News has reported many times on the non-profit center which took in a record number of bear cubs last year. The center rehabilitates all kinds of injured and orphaned animals, with the goal of returning them all to the wild.

The rescue facility is run out of Tom and Cheryl Millham's home in South Lake Tahoe and it is running out of room. But that is about to change. The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Governing Board has voted unanimously to approve the project, which means it could break ground as early as next month.

The new location is almost 30 acres inside the South Lake Tahoe city limits. It will house three times more animals than the current location, with larger pens and cages for the animals.

Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care has already raised $3 million to buy the property and start work, but will need at least twice that to finish the full project. Eventually, the organization hopes to raise enough money to create an endowment to guarantee funding in the future.

Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care is the only place in Northern California licensed to care for wild bear cubs. Volunteers are raising money for a new larger facility so they can help more cubs and other injured or orphaned wildlife. If you would like to help, click here.

Written and produced by Jennifer Olney.