An Example Of 'Steps To Take' To Enable Wildlife To Always Get To Emergency Care In Remoter Areas...

Every area of the UK is different and the steps to filling in the transport gap aren't always the same. With regards to supporting Vet Practices, I am finding that, in most areas, it works better to first recruit as many Drivers as possible and then approach Practices with a team ready to drive for them, so that as soon as they say, "Yes, we'd like to use your services" we can provide a team for them, the same day. [We also provide them with the Vet Wildlife Support Package.]

In the case outlined below, it happened a little differently but the end result will be the same and I wanted to share about it, so that you can see the kind of work that we do, behind the scenes... Here’s an example (this actually happened this month)...

STEP ONE: I was contacted by a potential new UKWT Driver who wanted to ask me if they could support wildlife in their local area by driving for us.  The only problem was that the area was pretty remote and had very few Wildlife Rescues (almost none).  This person was, however, a client of a nearby Vet Practice (they took their pets there) which leads us to ‘step two’…

STEP TWO: This local Vet Practice took in wildlife casualties / orphans but could find themselves stuck on where to move them onto afterwards, because of the area’s remoteness.  This could result in unnecessary euthanasia.

HOWEVER, there was a big Wildlife Hospital 44 minutes north, in a different county. The potential new Driver suggested that they would be happy transporting from the Vet Practice to the Wildlife Hospital.

STEP THREE: I contacted the Wildlife Hospital and asked if they would accept wildlife from the Vet Practice, even though it was a distance away.  They agreed.

STEP FOUR: I finally contacted the Vet Practice and told them that I had been approached by one of their clients, to ask me if UKWT could provide transport support to the Practice.  I asked if they would like to use our transport service (free) to move wildlife from them, up to the nearest Wildlife Hospital.  They said, “Yes please.”

STEP FIVE: The next step now is recruiting enough Drivers in that area, to be able to reliably move wildlife up from the Vets to the Wildlife Hospital (and potentially back again for release).  We have now already started our recruitment efforts in this area.  Watch this space!