WRCNU Executive Director DaLyn Marthaler told the Standard-Examiner on Friday that Ogden officials are holding firm to a March 7 deadline to vacate.

“We have been informed that (the George S. Eccles) Dinosaur Park wants to start demolition work on March 7,” she said. “We were a little bit surprised by that, so we are putting our move efforts into turbo mode and seeing what we can pull off.”

Though the WRCNU stopped the intake of animals last summer, Marthaler said there are still several critters on-site that they are either wrapping up care for or will be sending to other facilities in the state in short order.

“We’re working to get placements at two other rehabilitation sites — one in Price and one in Mapleton — and those ladies are going to need some help from our community as well,” she said. “They’re taking on a huge burden and they are just not set up the way we are, so this is going ot be a huge financial burden on them as well.”

She said there are around 35 animals — including four eagles — still on-site that are expected to be distributed between Second Chance Wildlife Rehabilitation (Price-Helper) and Great Basin Wildlife Rehabilitation (Mapleton).

While it is Ogden City that is ultimately evicting the group from its current home, the WRCNU noted in a Facebook post Friday that the city is providing some aid.

“The City of Ogden has pledged its support to provide and help move, to a long-term storage, our museum displays and other items like the 800-gallon stainless steel aquatic pool that WRCNU will eventually move to our final resting place when it’s ready,” the post said. “The City has also pledged to provide support in removing and relocating items from the facility for reuse in our temporary facility. Items such as cabinetry (combined City and WRCNU owned items), hot water heaters (WRCNU purchases), and other items WRCNU identifies as ‘reusable for its purposes.'”

Marthaler said she’s noticed at least some shift in the city’s approach to the WRCNU.

“The new administration, unlike the previous administration, has actually been in contact with us,” she said. “The mayor and his CAO (chief administrative officer) have personally come down and visited both properties and are looking for ways to help us expedite this move.”

In the meantime, plans were to use the weekend to full effect with a painting day at the temporary facility at 332 S Washington Blvd. on Saturday and a packing/boxing event on Sunday at the WRCNU’s current building at 1490 Park Blvd.

Marthaler said the group also is very much in need of a donation of flooring before they can move into the temporary facility.

“We don’t have an exact date, but we really want to be up and operational by spring,” she said. “Sherwin-Williams has been kind enough to donate all of the paint that we need. Our paint costs are 100% covered by Sherwin-Williams, now we’re looking for someone to step up and do that flooring. Those are kind of our final things to do before we’re able to start moving things into the building. We can’t move anything in until that flooring is in.”

The ultimate goal for the WRCNU remains a forever home. The organization’s Facebook post notes it has $641,140.50 saved for a new property, but a lot more is needed.

“Most of the ‘potentially suitable’ land we are seeing is in the $700K – $1.5 million price range,” the post added. “Note: We must have cash just to hold property. We then can communicate with the various cities to work on any code changes needed for our use and purpose. Without a chance at obtaining city approval, we waste our time considering potential properties.”

Marthaler said that the group’s fundraising strategy will need to evolve, but focus right now has been on preparing for the move.

“In the Park Boulevard property, fundraising was a lot easier to hold events in,” she said. “At this new property, we don’t have the space to hold a public event, so we’re going ot have to completely change up our fundraising strategy. Right now, we’ve been laser-focused on getting this property ready just because we need to get open by spring so we can help these animals and have a place for people to bring them.”

She said what the WRCNU ultimately needs the most is the community’s continued support.

“They’ve kept us going so far,” she said. “We’ve made strides no one thought was possible. To accomplish what we’ve accomplished in the past year is pretty much unheard of, and we’ve been able to do that so far with our community support, and we need that support to continue so we can keep up our efforts.”