Lindsay Wildlife Museum Receives Highest Award

Lindsay Wildlife Museum features a variety of wildlife exhibits, but its latest display will have neither fur nor feathers. It will be the award from the American Alliance of Museums (AAM), the most prestigious honor handed out to American museums. Of the country's 17,500 museums, only 775 have earned an AAM accreditation.

“The Lindsay Wildlife Museum has been a pillar of the community in Walnut Creek and beyond for decades. During that time, the museum’s critical role in the care and preservation of native California wildlife has been exemplary,” said Congressman George Miller. “Given this great success, it is no surprise the American Alliance of Museums has deemed it one of the top museums in the country.”

One hundred thousand people come through the museum's doors every year. More than 5,000 injured animals are treated. Thousands of students tour the facility annually, and it boasts partnerships with community organizations, as well as state and federal wildlife agencies. 

Three new exhibits opened last year:

• Wildlife Hospital Behind the Scenes gives visitors an inside view of the critical work of Lindsay’s wildlife rehabilitation hospital, the first such hospital established in the U.S.
• Raptor! lets visitors virtually experience flying like a wild hawk over Mount Diablo.
• Hive Alive! brings visitors closer than ever before to a live, working beehive enclosed in Plexiglass.

The museum’s first 2013 free admission day is Saturday, Feb. 2, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., sponsored by the Dean & Margaret Lesher Foundation.

The museum is located at 1931 First Ave., Walnut Creek, phone 925-935-1978, www.wildlife-museum.org.