You’ve found a wild bird or animal. What do you do next?
1) Establish whether or not it is appropriate to intervene.
As a rule, if they have been caught by a cat or dog, hit by a car or there are any visible wounds or other injuries, then they will need help. If the situation is less clear, you will find advice on a lot of common scenarios on our ‘Sick or Injured Wildlife’ pages.
2) IF SAFE TO DO SO, contain the casualty
If you have established that the bird or animal needs help, please try to contain it so that it is safe from predators and doesn’t wander off. NB Only take this step if it will not place you or the casualty in danger. We recommend that you do not try to handle adult squirrels, foxes, badgers or deer yourself. Most other casualties can be picked up with gardening gloves or a towel and placed in a cardboard box or cat carrier.
3) Find a wildlife rescue to help
Once you have established that help is needed, go to ‘Find a Wildlife Rescue’ in the menu above where you will find a searchable map and a list of counties/regions. You can either enter your location into the map or click on your county to see wildlife rescues in your vicinity. We recommend that you telephone them (rather than emailing or posting on their facebook page) to ensure you get prompt help. Electronic communications may only be checked every few days if the rescue is busy.
If you cannot find help or do not know what to do try one of the following
1) Post in our facebook advice group for further help – www.facebook.com/groups/helpwildlifeUK
2) Check one of these sites for other rescues
3) Call one of the following numbers which belong to rescues which cannot take the animals in themselves but which can offer advice and may have local knowledge of other rescues nearby
01708 475774 – East Anglia, Essex
023 9248 3770 – South East, Hampshire
01635 253139 – South East – Berkshire
07754 740155 – Northern Ireland
07973 819389 – North West, Lancashire
01228 541296 – North West, Cumbria
01248 440689 – Wales, Anglesey
01752 822512 – South West – Cornwall