How Many Wild Lives Have We Helped So Far?
I - Alana - spent almost 2 years (from August 2020 - June 2022) running/coordinating UKWT. In June 2022 we just couldn't keep up with the demand from members of the public & Vet Practices, who wanted our help. I realised that there was a better way for us to operate, where we could help a lot more wildlife: we switched from taking calls from everyone who wanted help to instead allocating teams of Volunteer Wildlife Drivers to Wildlife Rescues (so that members of the public could go to them directly, knowing that they could send out Drivers) and Vet Practices, so that they could call on their own team of Drivers, without needing to go through us.
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Our new model was working for a while but again, demand grew.
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We are currently open on a small scale but we could help much more... It's just me, Alana, running UKWT and overseeing our Vet Practice / Wildlife Rescue network plus all of our amazing Database of Drivers. On my own, I can oversee UKWT to help hopefully a few 100 wildlife casualties/orphans this year. With the minimum staff that we require to start operating properly again - saying 'yes' to all of the Vet Practices & Rescues who have asked for our help - we can help 10,000 wild lives this year, just by supporting 100 Vet Practices & all of the Wildlife Care Badge Holders with transport support. Please check out our EMERGENCY FUNDRAISER.
TRANSPORTS
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We transported almost 600 wildlife casualties/orphans to medical/ongoing care during our first almost 2 years (August 2020 to June 2022) . We also assisted approximately another 2000 members of the public to find rescue space and gave advice on how to provide high welfare conditions during transport, so that they could transport the casualty/orphan themselves, to medical/ongoing care. As a result of all of these calls, we have launched the 'Wildlife First Aid Officer Course'.
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VWSP​
The 'Vet Wildlife Support Package' has been offered out at the same time as Vet Driver Teams. So far we have offered the VWSP and Driver Support to 1500 Vet Practices & over 60 have taken the VWSP (and are using it) as well as asking for Driver Support to help them to treat wildlife.
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[The VWSP is a collection of 'how to treat wildlife' pdf & video guides, created by wildlife specialist Vets to enable ALL Vets & Vet nurses, in ALL UK practices, to know how to offer emergency medical care to the wildlife that are handed into them.
We are offering this package out because these guides came to our attention last year and at that time the audience that they were being promoted to was very small. We offered to promote the VWSP as part of our Vet Practice Wildlife Support Effort, guaranteeing that every Vet Practice in the UK could become aware of the guides & could start to use them. This is vital, as a very low % of Vets & Vet Nurses have been trained in offering medical care to wildlife & having access to these guides WILL help them to save wild lives.]
WCB & UKWT
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As well as running UKWT, I was also the Founder of the Wildlife Care Badge, which represents a united effort by UK Vet Professionals, Wildlife Rehabbers & Wildlife Professionals who worked together, for a year, and found a way (which was a great achievement as many were concerned that it wasn't possible) to assess Wildlife Rescues, in a supportive manner, to enable them to provide proof of high standards of wildlife care.
The 'Wildlife Care Badge' map itself represents a GROWING list of UK Wildlife Rescues/Rehabbers who can confidently offer knowledgeable, high welfare rehabilitative care to wildlife casualties & orphans.
With no regulation of the wildlife rehab industry in Wales, England & Northern Ireland, Vet Practices, members of the public & even other Rescues have started using this map to judge where it is safe to send wildlife casualties/orphans to, for high welfare rehabilitative care (rather than risking wildlife being given to well intentioned but inexperienced people who lack the actual skills required to help).
[Being part of the WCB - a Badge Holder - also provides a safe, supportive & positive community that's already uniting UK Vet Professionals & Wildlife Rescues/Rehabbers around one common goal: the rights of wildlife to thrive. As part of manifesting this new community, we have launched monthly meetings to support Wildlife Rescues/Vet Practices to best work together to serve our UK wildlife.]
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I've been committing many 1000s of hours since January 2021, to develop & run the WCB (free, as well as funding a lot of the running costs myself) because without the Wildlife Care Badge, UKWT couldn't operate either efficiently or with guaranteed high animal welfare standards. Here's all that we have been up to with the WCB, up to February 2024: HERE - And since February 2024, we have also launched our Well Being Programme and our Wild Affinity Network.
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