We are happy to announce our second charity!

“The Wildlife Aid Foundation is dedicated to the rescue, care and rehabilitation of sick, injured and orphaned wild animals. Established in 1980, the charity’s veterinary hospital in Leatherhead, Surrey deals with more than 20,000 wildlife emergencies every year. Our policy is to return every patient to the wild once they have recovered. The Foundation’s work is the focus of the popular TV series Wildlife SOS on Discovery Channel’s ‘Animal Planet’. The founder of the Foundation is the environmental broadcaster and campaigner Simon Cowell MBE“, http://www.wildlifeaid.org.uk/.

The fund treats each and every animal free of charge, and its main aim is to give each wildlife animal a second chance. Each treated animal which is capable of survival is then returned to its wildlife habitat.

Why We Chose Wildlife Aid?

The reason is quiet simple – we love what they are doing! Wildlife Aid was recommended to us by one of our clients, and as soon as we heard about it, we wanted to learn more. We started watching Wildlife SOS series created by Wildlife Aid (you can watch them online for free on their Youtube channel here), and absolutely fell in love with their ethos, the people working for `Wildlife Aid, and what they are doing. It is a rare thing to see such dedicated people so passionate about their work!

After we wathced the series, we were very excited to contact Simon, the owner of the fund, and arrange the meeting with him in Wildlife Aid centre.

On arrival to the centre, we sat in the reception room waiting for Simon. In the meanwhile, someone brought in a big beetle, badly damaged by the lawn mower. We thought that, probably, the poor guy who brought it in made the journey in vain – no chance a place as busy as that (20,000 or more animals a year!!) would even bother with a beetle.  However, to our absolute amazement, the beetle attracted lots of attention from the stuff – two people were looking at it and thinking about solutions to help the poor insect. They concluded that they needed to take the beetle in for further investigation. Needless to say, we were just speechless at that point…not being able to believe how lucky we were to come across such an amazing place with such high moral standards…

Beetle is not the only case of the strong ethical principles held by the fund. In one of the episodes of Wildlife SOS we saw how the fund’s vet team were performing an operation to stitch the skin on the back of the slowworm! Indeed, we found it absolutely incredible. Wildlife Aid team really does absolutely everything they can to try to save an animal, and once saved and able to survive in the wild, they always release it.

Indeed, this is the second amazing thing we found out about their fund – their policy of never domesticating the wild animals. The fund believes that each and every wildlife animal belongs to the wild, and keeping it in the captivity is against its wellbeing and nature. Hence, all the animals able to survive are released in the wild.

And it might seem as the most intuitive thing for everyone to do, however, looking at it from a closer perspective, there are actually lots of difficulties involved with releasing an animal in the wild after treating it in captivity. Quiet often the fund receives badly injured baby animals which it treats for months. With baby animals, it is vital to ensure they start training and living in the wild from the young age, otherwise their survival skills could deteriorate. Hence, the fund has to re-introduce animals slowly back into the wild after each and every prolonged treatment which take lots of time and patience. On top of that, there is always a possibility of getting attached to the wild patients, or the animals getting too accustomed to people, which could make them less cautious about the presence of people in the wild. But the fund has a solution even to this difficult problem. Caretakers are only allowed to visit animals for treatments and feeding, not at any other time. That ensures that animals get as little contact with humans as possible, keeping their wild instincts.

After we have met and spoken with Simon, we were completely sure this is the charity we would like to cooperate with. In fact, we were so amazed by the neat organisation, ethics, and the state of the fund and its animals, it inspired us to learn from the fund for our dream-project to create an animal shelter ourselves in the future. Indeed, we strongly believe that many people can learn from these amazing people, as their work really inspires and encourages to treat animals with more respect and care.

What Does Wildlife Aid Do?

The main task of Wildlife Aid is to help the injured wildlife animals and then release them into the wild. Indeed, that is a very big task, considering that the fund takes care of more than 20,000 animals a year! However, on top of that, the fund does many other things to promote general awareness, and educate people on wildlife, environment, and wildlife animals.

Here are some examples of what other tasks the fund performs:

  • Schools and Educational Talks. Education is a big part of what Wildlife Aid does. They give talks and presentations in schools, companies, groups, and clubs all around the country. You can learn more about the talks here.
  • After Dinner Talks, where you can speak to the founder of Wildlife Aid Simon Cowell MBE himself. You can learn more about it here.
  • Events. There is a massive list of events organised by the charity – you can learn more and see the upcoming events here.
  • Appeals and Campaigns. You can learn more about the current ones here.
How Can You Help?
  • Become a volunteer. So if, like us, you are interested in learning or, maybe, just helping Wildlife Aid, they are always looking for volunteers. You can apply online here – they have different types of jobs that you can help with, starting with taking care of the animals, to working in the PR department to help promote the fund.
  • Donate. You can donate to the fund here.
  • Become a member. The costs of running the centre are currently more than £1,000 a day! By donating just £2 a month you can become a member and help the centre cover its everyday expenses. You will also receive a starter pack full of goodies. And if you are able to donate more, the Premier Membership starts at just £5 a month! You can learn more and apply online for the membership here.
  • Adopt an animal. Adopting an animal for just £24.95 makes it a perfect gift, and also helps the fund cover the costs of x-rays, food, and treatments for the animals. On top of that, you receive an adoption pack including a certificate of adoption and a choice of a Wildlife SOS DVD, kids fun pack, or a fury toy, among others.
  • Fundraising. You can help the fund by buying the essential items that it currently needs – to see the items from the current wish lists, follow the links here and here.
  • Remember the Wildlife Aid in your will. You can find easy steps to how you can remember the fund in your will here.
  • Hedgehog Release Program. The fund takes in hedgehogs all year round – sometimes they come to the centre when they are babies and are only ready to be released in their adulthood. Despite that, the policy of the fund says that all animals capable of survival are released in the wild. Hence, the fund is starting a Hedgehog Release Program, and if you think your garden might be a suitable place for it (you can learn whether it is here), you can apply to join the program. In order to join, you will have to be a member, which you can become by filling in the online form here), and pay towards some of the costs of taking care and raising the hedgehogs (£20). Once you join, you will be put on the waiting list and contacted when the next opportunity to release a hedgehog arises – the releases are usually in spring.
Learn More About Wildlife Aid

There are several way to learn more about Wildlife Aid. The easiest ones are:

  • watch Wildlife SOS and other videos by the fund on their Youtube channel for free here
  • visit their website