Why No Pictures?

We often get asked why we don’t share pictures of all of the animals we transport. 

The reason is a welfare driven one & it’s not one we’ll ever budge on…

We DON’T TAKE PICTURES of the animals during transport because taking a photo of a wild creature who is trapped in a carrier & can’t get away from our attention (when the only reason we would be taking a picture would be for our social media) would cause such stress that it would drastically undermine their welfare & is actually a prosecutable offence for UKWT.  As an animal specific organisation, we’re very regulated by the Animal Welfare Act, which dictates our policies & procedures.

We very rarely get updates from the Rescues that we take to, with pictures, because the workload, especially during the Spring/Summer months, would be too much for them: UKWT would start to be a drain on them, which isn't what we want, rather than a support by helping them to get wildlife to them.

Equally, Rescues often do most of their own pictures and videos after an animal has recovered a bit and is on the mend AND they take pictures/videos mostly while an animal is being treated or examined, so having it recorded makes no difference to the creature's experience. UKWT picks up the animals often when they’re at their most in pain, injured, sick and scared.  In the past Finders used to send us pictures of the wildlife they’d found, before we picked up from them, but I didn’t share most of them as they were just very sad - they were an animal really suffering - which never felt right to share.

Our UKWT ‘Transport Shares’ - maps with pins of our pick ups etc - are my way of sharing about all that we’re doing and when we do get pictures from Rescues I include them in our updates, if I think they’re appropriate.  (Some Rescues occasionally let Drivers take a picture when the animal has moved officially into the Rescue’s care and their staff/volunteers are taking the animal from the carrier and examining him/her briefly in front of the Driver, as long as the Driver is a considerable distance away, so as not to cause the animal stress.  Again, I’ll only share those pictures if I think that they’re appropriate and not too upsetting).