What is Wildlife Rehabilitation?

Southwest Oklahoma Animal Rescue
4 min readJun 22, 2021

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Wildlife rehabilitation is the care for the orphan, injured, or sick animals and the goal is to return those animals to their native habitat. Wildlife rehabilitators take care of the animals suffering from diseases and other problems so that their life can be saved and get returned to the environment where they belong. Rehabilitator essentially spends their time conforming to the federal, state and local laws, moreover they arrange coordinating volunteers, fundraising activities and educate the public about the wildlife. They educate the people that how to treat these wildlife animals and what precautions they should take for their security.

https://oklahomawildliferescue.com/

Several states conduct the wildlife activities by including the individuals who regulate rehabilitation activities to be licensed with their state wildlife department or the department of natural resources. The licensing requirements vary from one state to other but applicants must be competent and prepared to rehabilitate wildlife. Sometimes when rehabilitators see that the animal has recovered from injury but will not survive longer, they give those to the educational institutes for research purposes. Wildlife rehabilitation is not an effort to change the wildlife animals to pets but it works unless an individual animal recovers from injury and able to survive in the natural habitat. Everyone gets afraid of the wildlife animals and that is one of the main reasons for their survival. Rehabilitation is a very time taking process because most animals get aggressive when they see humans around them.

Rehabilitation is done with the help of veterinarians as they cure animals of injuries, illness, and other diseases. There is a huge difference between domestic animals and wildlife animals so rehabilitators require and wide knowledge about their behavioral issues, natural history, food requirement, and habitat requirement. The main thing is the first aid that is given to wildlife animals so rehabilitators must have extensive knowledge of first aid and must be well aware of behavioral problems that they can cause. Laws and rules are present in every country concerning wildlife and birds and animals are being protected by state laws and federal laws. Permits must be given by state wildlife agencies to the wildlife rehabilitators as they work with reptiles, mammals, and amphibians. Those permits must be given when the rehabilitators have enough knowledge, specials training, facility inspection, participants in various training programs, or written or oral exams. Once they get their permits they should not get stuck there, instead of that, they should participate in seminars, conferences.

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Most of the rehabilitators begin their carrier in wildlife as a volunteer and get experience with time but some countries don’t require special education for the rehabilitation. Some countries require a letter from the rehabilitators written by a veterinarian who shows their willingness to assist the rehabilitator when needed. In most countries, it is against law to have a wild animal. However, the country or state that operates the wildlife rehabilitation provides legal exceptions to rehabilitators.

Two terms are used regarding wildlife. One is wildlife rehabilitation and the other is wildlife management. Wildlife rehabilitation differs from wildlife management. Wildlife rehabilitation focuses its attention on the survival of the individual animals and their safe return to their habitat but the wildlife management is only concerned about the health and well-being of the wildlife population and is rarely concerned about the individuals. Wildlife rehabilitation also arranges different seminars and conferences to educate people about wild animals. The biggest threat to wild habitat is human beings as forests are being cut every day and the wildlife environment is shrinking and causing serious problems for the wildlife species. So people get awareness through the seminar and conferences about the wildlife that how to treat them and help them to live their lives. Wildlife rehabilitators also focus their attention on the rehabilitation of endangered species as they are becoming extinct on earth. With the training, wildlife rehabilitators can educate the people in deciding that whether an animal needs help or not.

As we all know that rehabilitators are not good replacements for the injured birds or animals but the ultimate goal is always their safe return to their natural environment. Rehabilitators also provide training that how to return a bird or animal to their parents. Every country must make sure of the implication of rules and regulations concerning wildlife protection and rehabilitation so that a balance can be created in the environment. Moreover, every country must establish wildlife rehabilitation centers in different areas that can help the sick and injured animals. Many developing countries are lacking in getting awareness about the wildlife and wild animals and when people belonging to these countries find wild animals near them, they kill them and torture them to death after catching them. They do this because they don’t have the awareness to treat wild animals. So awareness is the key element regarding wildlife and this is the only way in which we can protect the animals and make this environment more healthy and peaceful.

Sharing information on social media is another way that can go a long way. Every second count when it comes to rescuing the animals. So helping others to find an environment for a rescued animal is very important.

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Southwest Oklahoma Animal Rescue
Southwest Oklahoma Animal Rescue

Written by Southwest Oklahoma Animal Rescue

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580-305-4020 We are an Equine and Exotic/Wildlife Rescue Rehabilitation Organization permitted by both State and Federal government.

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