Hogan's Wildworks

Hogan's Wildworks: A last chance for homeless animals

The Nature of Wildworks, a wildlife refuge and care facility, winds along the plush Topanga, Calif., hillside of Mollie Hogan’s yard. Bathed in the pastoral delight of the Santa Monica Mountains, Topanga (pop. 12,000) is itself a kind of rural refuge, situated only 10 miles north of Los Angeles.

Hogan was a folksinger before earning her degree in exotic animal training at age 30. Today she is founder and sole full-time employee of The Nature of Wildworks—a retreat where many domesticated but now homeless wild animals are used to educate people in wildlife ways.

Hogan worked at the Los Angeles Zoo for 13 years, until budget cuts in 1995 forced it to cancel the Wild in the City Show—an educational program displaying animals in local habitats that she and fellow zookeepers had built into one of the zoo’s most popular exhibitions. Disappointed but determined, Hogan began, for the ceremonial price of a dollar each, bringing the animals back home.

“I took home eight from the zoo originally, and now we have 35,” she says. “We have to pick and choose a bit. We try to take animals that were hand raised, that we can work with safely, that are used to people.”

Grants, donations, and performance fees constitute much of Hogan’s funding for Wildworks, but it is limited, not unlike the physical constraints of her fenced-in, half-acre Topanga property. Yet, mountain lions, bobcats, hawks, and exotic birds abound there. A visitor is mesmerized by the hypnotic pacing of a large white wolf, aptly named Moon.

“A lot of them are confiscated pets,” Hogan explains. “The exotic pet industry is, unfortunately, a huge business,” but illegal in California. In many other states, it’s legal to buy such beasts, however, and residents who bring them back don’t realize how difficult, unnatural, and often dangerous it is to domesticate something born to be wild.

A loose collection of outdoor hutches and cages for her wildlife clientele are visible from inside the extended trailer that is home to Hogan and serves as the office for Wildworks.

“Animals are mostly the same as people. Like this macaw,” Hogan says pointing to Jammy, the multicolored bird perched overhead in her office. “It’s like a small child—really moody. See, she’s kind of pouting right now. She likes certain people and doesn’t like others, and she can imitate sounds. They live to be about a hundred, so it’s like having a 2-year-old around for a hundred years.”

As Hogan talks she points around the room to several adopted family members at home in her office. “Jammy doesn’t like that kestrel that’s in the bathroom, but the squirrel in that cage doesn’t bother her, or the crow that lives in here. Nor does she care about that big lizard caged over there.”

Outside, walking through the yard, she greets each animal with a cuddle, introducing it with a personal anecdote and scientific information. Hogan’s comfortable affection with these creatures of the wild strongly indicates the quality of care she gives them. The beasts are no longer able to survive in the wild, so without Hogan they would not survive.

Though lifetime care is its first mandate, Wildworks strives just as hard to continue the wildlife education that its predecessor program at the zoo fulfilled so well. Though not open to the public, Hogan’s native wildlife animal show is hired out for events to educate others in the animals’ wild ways.

“We take the critters, including the mountain lion, anywhere there’s an interest in hiring us—schools, fairs, the park service, birthday parties,” Hogan says. “We’ve been to pancake breakfasts, and we’ve posed for students in art classes.”

Julie Bresnick is a freelance writer from Venice, Calif.

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