Statewide Toll-Free Wildlife Hotline

1-866-WILD-911

 

Most people who find injured animals are anxious to help. Unfortunately, they are often at a loss for what to do, or whom to call.

For a wild animal in distress, the length of time and the quality of care it receives before reaching a wildlife professional can mean life or death. Even if it’s not critically wounded, inadequate housing, mishandling, and improper food can be fatal.

Nationwide, the primary dilemma for wildlife casualties and the people who find them is a missing link ­ a resource that connects the finder with a wildlife specialist who can provide sound advice, and expert assistance.

Thanks to grants from the Mary Jo and Hank Greenberg Fund, the City of Malibu, and a handful of generous donations, WildRescue was able to launch its toll-free emergency hotline service April 2, 2007. It is an automated 911, exclusively for wildlife emergencies.

IVR Technology Group implemented Rebecca Dmytryk's design and programmed an interactive voice response (IVR) platform to interface with callers.

This user-friendly phone system provides callers with the telephone numbers of accredited wildlife experts nearest them, specializing in the species they’ve encountered, and offers critical information pertinent to the caller’s situation.

This public service is supported by donations. Please consider making a donation to support our work, HERE.

 

IN THE NEWS

Pet Gazette

Daily News

 

 

 

 

 

Wildlife Paramedic Search & Rescue Teams

 

In most areas of the United States, one of the greatest problems faced by injured wild animals and the people who find them is a resource to call upon that is capable and willing to respond, day or night - a resource that has the training, skills, and experience to properly identify an animal and evaluate its condition, provide first aid, and trans portion to a licensed care facility - a wildlife paramedic.

These initial responders have the opportunity to influence the care an animal receives from the moment it is reported. Subsequently, their life-saving efforts can increase the number of animals that make it to a rehabilitation facility, through convalescence, and returned to the wild.

Since the early 1980s, WildRescue's founder, Rebecca Dmytryk, has actively promoted the idea that a rescue begins with the initial contact with the finder. She is responsible for introducing the concept of a Wildlife Paramedic and Wildlife Search and Rescue teams in the United States, advocating use of specially trained personnel for wildlife emergencies.

She recently authored Wildlife Search and Rescue, a guide for first responders.

In California, WildRescue manages two teams of volunteer responders, one in Monterey and the other in San Francisco. Through a generous donation in 2010, WildRescue realized its goal of acquiring a wildlife ambulance - the first, ever, in the United States. It is in service in the Monterey and Santa Cruz area.

IN THE NEWS

WildRescue's volunteer rescue teams are supported by donations. To make a donation to support our work, click HERE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Training and Consulting Services

 

Whether a community is faced with thousands of injured wild animals during a disaster or confronted with only a few individuals here and there, wildlife casualties stand a better chance of surviving if responders are well trained and equipped.

Response to disabled wild animals requires a unique set of skills very different from those used in handling domestic animals. To help communities strengthen their wildlife response capabilities, WildRescue offers programs specifically designed for dispatch operators, animal control officers, park rangers, game wardens, and wildlife rehabilitators.

We also offer specific training and consulting for humane wildlife control operators, call takers, and animal shelters.

Please see a list of our classes and consulting options, HERE.

Make a donation toward our work, HERE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

HUMANE WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT

 

In June, 2009, WildRescue launched an innovative program called Humane Wildlife Management, a fee-based service.

Through Humane Wildlife Management WildRescue offers sound, sustainable, no-kill solutions to conflicts with wildlife. Be it a raccoon living under a home, skunks under a deck, a loitering coyote, or flocking pigeons, WildRescue offers prompt and proficient response. All proceeds go back into WildRescue's charitable work.

 

 

 

 

Wildlife Disaster Response Fund

After responding to a devastating natural disaster off the Oregon coast in 2009, where thousands of seabirds perished in an unusual 'sea foam' event, we vowed to establish a fund to quicken disaster response efforts.

In 2010, the Wildlife Emergency Response Fund became a reality. Click HERE for more information, how you can help, or how to apply for assistance.

Make a donation to the Fund, HERE.