You Want To Join Wildcare But Don’t Want To Care For Animals - What Can You Do?

The first thought that comes to most people’s minds when they think of wildlife rehabilitation is bottle-feeding an adorable baby, whether it is a wombat, possum, wallaby, or bird.

What if you don’t have the time available to make this level of commitment, though, or it just doesn’t appeal to you?

Below are a few ideas of other ways you can help.

Organised people with good communication skills might like to help on the 24/7 helpline. These volunteers are the point of contact for members of the public and provide advice and organise rescuers to attend to an animal in need of assistance. They are rostered on to a six-hour shift that meets their time constraints on a monthly or more frequent basis.

If your skillset includes minute-taking, bookkeeping, information technology and some more generalised roles, you may like to nominate for the Wildlife Management Committee. The committee usually meets monthly on the weekend and communicates frequently by email between meetings.

The fundraising team attends markets and fairs, selling a variety of handmade items such as toy animals and door stops. They’re always on the lookout for highly competent sewers and knitters to help create beautiful creations for sale.

Woodworking and construction skills are highly desirable. Wildcare uses many possum boxes every year and is always looking for help with their construction and placement. Other construction tasks include aviaries, wombat and macropod enclosures.

Rescuers receive calls from the Helpline regarding animals in need of assistance. It may be as simple as collecting an animal from the vet and taking it to a carer, or as complex as removing a large kangaroo from a fence and organising medical care for it. Rescuers are not expected to care long-term for an animal simply because they rescued it. Animals are allocated to carers by the relevant species coordinators.

The second role with direct contact with animals involves the difficult task of humane euthanasia of animals that have been assessed by an experienced rescuer or the species coordinator, one of whom determines that, unfortunately, the best outcome for a particular animal is to end its suffering. This role requires the volunteer to have an appropriate firearms licence and attend firearms training with Wildcare.

Wildcare has been operating in the area and its surrounding 22000 square kilometres for 30 years.

It is run solely by volunteers who are passionate about our native wildlife.

If you think you would like to become a volunteer with Wildcare, please contact the Helpline on 6299 1966 or download a membership form from www.wildcare.com.au.

By Bec Quinn Wildcare

• Topics:

• Pets & Animals
• Volunteering