The Amanda Blake Memorial Wildlife Refuge

In 1967, Amanda Blake met Pat Derby, Co-founder of PAWS, in Hollywood on the set of "Gunsmoke". At the time Pat Derby was working as an animal trainer. Pat and Amanda became close friends and in 1985, when PAWS was founded, Ms. Blake supported PAWS with business processes and financial assistance. During this time, she also traveled frequently to Africa, where she fell in love with the natural beauty and wildness of the Maasai Mara Reserve and with national parks such as Amboseli and Serengeti. During her final years, Amanda lived at the PAWS Galt, California sanctuary so that she could be close to the animals she loved.

Although she died in 1989, at the age of 60, Amanda's spirit lives on at PAWS. In 1997, the Amanda Blake Memorial Wildlife Refuge, located in Herald, California was established in Ms. Blake's memory and now provides refuge for ostrich, emu, rhea, fallow deer, eland, Muntjack deer and a herd of scimitar-horned oryx. Through this sanctuary, PAWS continues Amanda's commitment to the protection of animals in captivity as well as in the wild.

The most notable item of interest about the Amanda Blake Refuge is that it contains what is probably the only herd of oryx containing adults of both sexes in the country, and possibly anywhere. Adult male oryx do not typically get along, and zoos usually have only one adult male in an exhibit at a time. This seems to be true for most if not all antelope species. This creates an obvious problem for zoos in that they have limited space to keep any males born in their collections. Bachelor herds have not worked out well and they are currently working with various drugs to allow them to keep groups of males together. Their only other alternative is to sell or trade these "surplus" males to another zoo or, more likely, an animal dealer. According to the AZA S.S.P. for Scimitar-horned oryx, historically they have only had two "successful" bachelor herds. When PAWS contacted the L.A. zoo, a representative stated that the zoo's bachelor herd only lasted one year. The bachelor herds were also located at Fossil Rim Ranch in Texas. They have much more space for their oryx at Fossil Rim than at any zoo, but even with many acres of land they were forced to cut off the horns of the males in order to keep them together. To-date, we have not had to trim the horns of the males and have not encountered problems with aggression between the seven male and eleven female oryx we have.

The Amanda Blake Museum & Visitor Center
Open Saturdays from 10 am - 3 pm or by special appointment.
Please call (209) 745-2606 for more information.

Museum volunteers and animal docents needed. If you are interested and can commit to a regular volunteer schedule, please click here to review our volunteer web page.

Surplus Animal Issues
As recently as the 1960s, the problem of "surplus" wildlife was minimal. But today, this "cycle" of surplus animals is a multi-billion dollar industry that is burgeoning out of control and is responsible for the misery and death of hundreds of thousands of animals each year. Surpluses of captive wild animals are created by irresponsible zoos, the pet novelty trade, the hunting ranch industry, the Hollywood industry, roadside exhibits, circuses and, increasingly, the drug trade. Experts estimate that in the United States alone, there are about 1,200 roadside zoos and menageries. Daily, there are thousands of unwanted, abused or abandoned animals in need of refuge in this country.

Wildlife Today
It is an unfortunate reality that much of the "free" wildlife of the world has also fallen prey to the greed of animal dealers, breeders and trainers. The enormous loss of wildlife habitat in Africa, Asia, Australia and elsewhere is becoming increasingly evident and the impact of this enormous loss is being felt by not only animals in the wild, but also their counterparts in captivity. Today, it seems there are few places where indigenous wildlife can or do exist without some sort of human intervention.