What: West Sound Wildlife Shelter’s “Call To The Wild” auction and dinner event.

When: 5 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday, April 25.

Where: Kaina Lodge (14976 Sandy Hook Road NE, Poulsbo).

Admission: Single tickets are $125, “Guardian tickets” are $150 and include preferred seating and a special gift.

More than 1,300 animals were served at West Sound Wildlife Shelter last year.

Some of them just needed a little help.

Some of them needed a lot.

Most of the shelter’s patients are helpless baby animals found orphaned or abandoned, 262 last year alone. The staff also treated fractures (110 cases), head trauma (86), hypothermia (48), parasites (23), eye injuries (14), amputations (13) and soft tissue injuries (132) last year as well.

Since its doors first opened in 1999, regional demand for the shelter’s services have increased dramatically, and they treated over 200 more patients in 2014 than in 2013.

It’s a trend that shows no sign of reversing anytime soon.

“We’re projecting more than 1,400 patients in 2015,” explained shelter spokeswoman Cate McCaslin.

All that aid is not cheap, she added.

According to McCaslin, it takes approximately $1,400 a day to run the shelter. To offset the costs associated with treating so many animals, West Sound Wildlife Shelter is returning their annual “Call To The Wild” auction and dinner event from  5 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday, April 25 at the Kaina Lodge (14976 Sandy Hook Road NE, Poulsbo). It is the shelter’s biggest event of the year, McCaslin said, and has previously raised more than a third of the organization’s operating budget – more than $110,000.

Only through the continued support of the community – support in the form of volunteers, monetary donations and even alerting the shelter to animals in need – can the shelter continue its mission, said executive director Lisa Horn. “It takes a community to successfully run the shelter,” she wrote in the shelter’s recent annual report. “A huge part of that community is the shelter’s committed volunteer force. Without them, we simply could not care for the animals that arrive at our door each year. The other vitally important part of our community is our amazingly generous donors, without your support there would no doors to open in our area to care for injured wildlife.”

Horn said that the auction was unquestionably the shelter’s “most important fundraising event and our largest celebration of the year.”

The shelter disclosed in their annual report that 90 percent of donated funds and support last year went directly to the wildlife hospital and their educational efforts, which, over the course of the past year, presented 115 programs that reached over 7,400 kids and adults at classrooms, clubs, civic groups and local fairs and festivals.

The West Sound Wildlife Shelter is a private non-profit organization. All their financial support is derived from private donations from individuals, foundations, local governments (under contracts), grants, education programs and through special fundraising events such as the annual auction/dinner.

Tickets are on sale now for the gala event.

The price includes a hosted bar (beer and wine), appetizers and a three-course meal with entree choices available during registration.

Some of the premiere items up for auction are the the chance to be a NASCAR driver for a day, a five-night stay in Cancun, an antique ivory chess set, an original Johnpaul Jones sketch, a Weber premium charcoal grill, a variety of works by local artists including paintings, drawings and photographs as well as jewelry, clothing and restaurant gift certificates. The cost is $125 per person, with “Guardian” tickets available for $150, which includes preferred seating and a special gift as well.

Visit www.westsoundwildlife.org to learn more and purchase tickets.