Guardians of the Wild: Wings in Crisis
1st Episode: In Production
When Wildlife Cries for Help, Who Answers?
Wings in Crisis pulls you into a hidden emergency along Southern California’s coast—where pelicans, seabirds, and wild creatures are arriving injured, starving, poisoned, and tangled in the fallout of a human-dominated world. In 2025 alone, the Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center took in nearly 8,000 beating hearts, victims of disappearing fish, supercharged algae blooms, fishing hooks tearing into fragile wings, fires, toxic storm runoff, and the slow, silent poisoning of predators through rodent bait. At the frontline is Zoli Teglas, racing to rescue the broken, and Dr. Lizzie Wood, treating more than a thousand patients at any given time. This film is intimate, urgent, and deeply human, an invitation to witness what’s at stake when we forget how to coexist with the wildlife that shaped this coastline long before we arrived.
“This is not just a story of loss — it’s a story of second chances.”
Meet the Guardians: The People Who Refuse to Give Up
At the center is Zoli Téglás, a punk-rock frontman turned wildlife EMT, who races across beaches and oceans rescuing injured birds and getting them to safety.
His destination: the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center, where Dr. Lizzie Wood, a relentless wildlife veterinarian, leads a dedicated team treating & caring for over 1,000 animals at any given time, caught in the crossfire of human impact.
Why this Film, Why Now
Because this crisis is manmade, but so are the solutions.
Pelicans and Seabirds are starving, arriving with fishing hooks driven deep into their bones, their bodies bound by discarded lines. Owls are dying from second-generation rodent poisons. Sea mammals from tumors. Fires, storms, runoff, and climate pressures are bringing more wildlife into care than ever before, and rescue organizations are overwhelmed. But every day, this team is proving something important:
“Change is possible — and it starts with care, action, and awareness.”
“Since 1990, I’ve dedicated my life to wildlife rehabilitation, because these animals deserve someone who refuses to give up on them”
This Film Is a Call to Action
Because the deeper story is about us.
About the decisions we make — and the chance we have to make better ones.
This isn’t just a film about rescue. It’s a film about responsibility, resilience, and the growing movement of people rising to protect what’s wild and fragile.
“I cannot go home at night knowing that they’re suffering and dying”