HELP IS ON THE WAY HART PARK ANIMAL PENS TO BE RENOVATED.

Byline: Carol Rock Staff Writer

NEWHALL - The animals at William S. Hart Park are getting some new digs, thanks to the funding approval this week for the project.

A new 6,090-square-foot enclosure will be built for waterfowl and livestock that live at the park, offering shade in summer and refuge from rain in winter, as well as a reconfiguring of the walking paths so visitors can get a closer look.

``All the gates will be wrought iron and there will be paneling on each of the pens so we can keep any kind of animal in them,'' said David Stives, the park animal keeper. ``With the existing fence, a bull could go through it or a pig could dig under.''

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved $53,000 last week for the project, which will cost an estimated $344,000.

The park inhabitants include four pygmy goats, two San Clemente goats, three sheep, two pigs, one bull, two horses, one burro, two deer, several ducks, geese and chickens and two golden pheasants. Also calling the park home is a herd of nine buffalo, kept in a separate enclosure at the west end of the park.

For many children, Hart Park is the only place they can see barnyard animals. Stives estimated 60,000 schoolchildren tour the grounds each year.

``This project has been on the table a few years,'' said Karen Grant, assistant director of the North Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation District. ``We need facilities that are more user-friendly, to allow kids to actually get close to the animals and (to) protect the animals from the wind and rain. I can't emphasize enough how important this resource is for inner-city children who visit the park.''

Grant said the new drainage systems would provide more eco-friendly sanitation when animals get washed or their enclosures cleaned.

In a demonstration of the wood deterioration, Stivese shook one of the pen posts near where pigs Gracie and Rambo lounged in the sun.

``You go to pound a nail to fix something and a board falls off on the other end,'' he said.

Gracie and Rambo are two of several park animals that were rescued by Stives, who is licensed by state and federal agencies as a wild animal rehabilitator. He found the orphaned piglets on a road - the mother sow had been hit by a car.

``It's 24-7 animal care,'' he said. ``We fix 'em up and let 'em go. When I leave here, I go home to do the same thing.''

In March 2003, 38 birds that lived at the park had to be euthanized because of an outbreak of Exotic Newcastle Disease. Once the epidemic was over, Stives repopulated the water ponds with ducks and chickens hatched at his home, to be sure that they did not carry the disease.

Stives has been working on the proposed upgrade to the pens since he came to the park five years ago. His initial drawings were reviewed by architects, then by officials from the Department of Agriculture, until they reached the head of the pecking order. Construction on the project should begin by summer.

Carol Rock, [phone]

carol.rock(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) A bull checks out visitors at William S. Hart Park from one of the many barnyard animal pens scheduled for renovation this summer.

(2 -- color) Vicki Goodlin of Saugus feeds a sheep and a goat through a fence at Newhall's Hart Park.

Gus Ruelas/Staff Photographer