In April 1978, Cheryl Millham (now Executive Director of LTWC) was reading a Woman’s Day magazine, when a picture of a lady holding a baby raccoon caught her eye.  Having grown up in the Los Angeles area, often times, Cheryl’s two daughters, Debi and Connie, would bring home to her ‘orphaned’ birds which had fallen out of their nest, or just separated from their mom.  Never having success with raising the ‘wild’ birds, she read the article which dealt with a wildlife rehabilitation facility in Palo Alto, California (near Stanford University) called Wildlife Rescue, Inc. 

The lady pictured in the article, Jinny Collins, was one of the founders of Wildlife Rescue.  Cheryl called Jinny and got more details about the ‘training session’ the article spoke about.  Cheryl, along with her husband, Tom, their daughter, Connie and good friend, B. J. Dietz, then made the 200 + mile trip to Palo Alto in April 1978 and took the training class offered by Wildlife Rescue. 

Upon their return to South Lake Tahoe, contacts were made with a representative from California Fish and Game, El Dorado County Sheriff, South Lake Tahoe Police Department, California Highway Patrol, El Dorado County Animal Control and veterinary clinics in the area.  All were told that this ‘core’ group was interested in helping and assisting the ‘orphaned and injured’ wild birds and animals in the South Lake Tahoe ‘area’.  Little did they know at that time that their ‘area’ would extend to hundreds of miles in ALL directions from SLT! 

Once word got out, birds and animals starting coming in.  That first year, 86 wild birds and animals were brought to Bender’s Camp Richardson Marina, where the Millham’s were the managers. 

The next year, Jinny Collins was asked to come to South Lake Tahoe and teach the first ‘training seminar’ offered by the new ‘Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care’!  That class was held in the South Tahoe High School library and was well attended by about 70 people interested in volunteering for the new organization. 

In the summer of 1979, one of the Millham’s regular customers at the marina, an attorney from Los Angeles, California, Steve Malley, saw the good work they were doing – IN the marina office – with the orphaned and injured wildlife and offered to make a donation for their cause.  BUT, the donation would NOT be a financial contribution.  Steve offered the services of his law firm to get the new group ‘incorporated’.  Soon after the incorporation papers arrived, the group became a non-profit organization, as recognized by the IRS and were able to offer a tax-deductible contribution for those making financial donations. 

Cheryl was the charter president of the organization.  In 1983, the board of directors decided to ‘promote’ Cheryl to the office of Executive Director, which she has held since, and elected Cheryl’s father, Blaine Bender, as President of the organization.  Blaine held that office until he passed away (cancer) in January 1997, when Bob Rutherdale, longtime board member and vice president at that time, was elected to succeed as President. 

The group has had several vice presidents over the years, with Dr. Kevin Willitts, owner of Alpine Animal Hospital of SLT, the current VP. 

To date, the organization has received over 19,000 wild birds and animals and released, back to the wild, over 12,200, which makes for a release rate of more than 64%.  The ‘best’ year for release rate was 2006, in which the organization had a 73.17% release rate.