Wildlife, Got To The 'Right' Places?

Alana H
Jan 27
6 min read

Updated: Jan 28

At a meeting with a Wildlife Rescuer, this month, they said to me: “In 2025, UKWT got almost 800 animals to the RIGHT place” and her words really struck me - and stayed with me - because I had never thought of it that way before. That person had summed up the united efforts & hopes of the work of myself (and many others) in the founding & running of the Wildlife Care Badge and UK Wildlife Transporters, in one sentence.

And so I am sharing those words and explaining why they're so important to me (and what they means for UKWT’s future).

What is the RIGHT place for a wildlife casualty/orphan to be taken to, for urgent help?

A Wildlife Rescue (a place) run by & featuring knowledgeable Wildlife Carers: Rescuers who have a strong knowledge of the species that they’re taking in and who can accurately assess injuries & illnesses, to do their best by the creature in their hands.
That same Wildlife Rescue has high welfare premises: clean housing, set up to provide as stress free an environment for the animal as possible, with the correct food provided & correct social groupings for the animal, to enable their calmest & most enriched experience, to give them the greatest chance at recovery & a new wild existence.
VERY IMPORTANTLY... Through the Wildlife Rescue, the animal must have access to veterinary treatment: diagnostic tools, if needed, like X-rays & blood tests, pain relief (of course), antibiotics & other medications & even operations if required.

All of this just adds up to: offering a creature respect & a fair chance.

Alternatively, what is the WRONG place for a wildlife casualty/orphan to be taken to, for urgent help?

Here’s what I experienced when I first set up UKWT & I didn’t understand how unregulated the Wildlife Rescue Industry was…

Some Wildlife Rescuers have NO knowledge at all of the species they take in. I was told, during UKWT’s very first months, by one Wildlife Rescue to whom I transported a hedgehog (they told me after the little one had passed away): “I’ve never taken a hedgehog in before & I had no idea what I was doing but I’ll never turn an animal away.” [Now, it’s important to clarify that that little hedgehog may not have survived even with the most experienced Rehabber, but the point that I’m making is that that little creature needed urgent, knowledgeable medical treatment and - because I took them to the wrong place - they had no chance of getting it. They weren’t given a fair chance. I also found out on that same call that the Rescuer didn’t work, at all, with a Vet].
Another example during those same months was a Rehabber in London: part of a larger network who came highly recommended to me. The Rehabber in question wanted UKWT to move on a large number of Pigeons from her home, to other larger Wildlife Hospitals, so that she would have space to take in more birds. [This isn’t a general criticism of home based Rehabbers, as a great number of them are exceptional and operating to the same high welfare standards as the very large hospitals, just on a smaller scale]. I discovered during my communications with her and through the transport of those animals that NONE of the birds she had taken in had had any veterinary treatment at all: she openly stated that she had taken birds in with significant injuries and provided them with no medical treatment and I was also advised to ignore the state of one of the birds - they had all been housed in tiny, cramped cages, for long periods of time - because the bird in question had broken parts of its own body, bashing itself against the cage, trying to escape. This was a Rehabber who was taking in 100s of birds on a regular basis and piling them up in cages in her house, without providing them with any suitable emergency care, for months, before moving them on. And she was recommended to me by a Vet Practice, later on that same year, as someone to take birds to, because the vet had received good reports of her premises & practices and wasn’t aware that the reports were inaccurate.

How DO I know the 'right' places to take wildlife to?

It was because of the experiences shared above (and others) during UKWT’s first few months that I realised that there was no framework - due to the lack of government regulation - in the Wildlife Rescue Industry, to help me to choose where/where not I should take animals to, for emergency care. I realised that I either closed UKWT - as I didn’t actually have a map to run off - or I & others needed to come together to create that map. So I started off by reaching out to Wildlife Rescues & Veterinary Professionals who had proved themselves to at least a small degree (and much more in a few professional cases) to see if they would be interested in SELF regulating the industry - in the absence of government licensing - and lots were. As a result, the Wildlife Care Badge was born….

The WCB is currently the only Wildlife Rescue map/database in the UK that features Wildlife Rescues who have proven standards of care, akin to actual licensing (annual onsite checks, exams on wildlife care passed & high welfare practices proven through record keeping and an ongoing vet relationship, every quarter throughout the year). Without the WCB Map, UKWT cannot run. We rely on it to know where to take wildlife to, entirely.

The WCB is now coming up to its 4 year anniversary - and you can check out ALL that we’ve been up to HERE - and it’s been one of the toughest ventures/experiences of my life. This is, in part, because it’s been both very celebrated AND/OR very unpopular. Some of the reasons it's proven unpopular have been because... I’ve been told by more than one person that UKWT should be putting human feelings first - above all other considerations - and not refusing to take animals to a Wildlife Rescue, whose standards are unproven. I have been told that I should put any Rescuer, who asks to be, on the WCB Map of ‘approved’ Rescues, because I am causing upset & division in the industry by NOT doing so. I have been told that I should recognise that every Rescuer is just doing their best (and I actually agree, they really are) and they need to be rewarded for that, by going on the WCB Map, even if they openly state that they might not have suitable premises and/or work with a vet. I have been told that human well being & welfare should be put first in our UKWT policies & interactions.

Now, I do agree fully that we are all just humans, trying our best with whatever we know/don’t know in each moment. (I am just as fallible as anyone else and I’m sure that there are ways that I will discover that UKWT can improve as time goes on and, like everyone else, I’ve made mistakes and regretted them and tried to learn from them & do better). Human well being, as a factor, is why the WCB tries to support Wildlife Carers to learn & treat wildlife & has even funded training & provided completely confidential mentoring schemes for Rehabbers. But, at the end of the day, to my mind, the Wildlife Rescue Industry is an animal SERVICE industry: shouldn’t we ALWAYS be doing what we can to genuinely serve the animals in our care & give them a fair chance?

GETTING BACK TO WHY THE WORDS ‘THE RIGHT PLACE’ HAVE STAYED WITH ME…

As a direct result of the Wildlife Care Badge, I think - providing a map for UKWT to run from - in 2025, we either went out to/transported 793 wildlife casualties/orphans (and in 2026 so far, 15) to the RIGHT place: they arrived at high welfare & secure - and clean - housing, to the social groupings that they required to feel safe & enriched & to the urgent medical & rehabilitative care that they required, to get a fair go at a second chance at a new, wild life. And hopefully, in 2026, we can help at least another 1000 more, to the same degree.

[If a Wildlife Rescue isn't someone we currently take to, it doesn't mean they're not great, it just means that they're not a large centre with a vet onsite - or visiting regularly - and that they also haven't taken the steps to become a WCB Holder. It could also mean that they're just not on our radar yet.]

When I look at the faces of those creatures (in the photos when the animals have arrived in Rescue/Veterinary care, because Drivers aren’t allowed to take pictures of the wildlife they transport, for welfare reasons) I feel like, however I might find that UKWT could improve in the future, I’ve at least done my best to do right by all of those creatures, so far.

Because we ALL matter & we ALL deserve equal respect & support, from one another...