What to do if you have found injured or orphaned wildlife

If an animal is obviously injured, then you should seek help immediately.
​Please remember that wildlife is "wild" so they see humans as predators and are not aware that you may be trying to help. 

Many people in the community are not aware that it is against the law to pick up a wild animal and take it home to care for it themselves, without being a registered wildlife carer trained in rehabilitation and release of native wildlife. Please make sure you get experienced help for the animal as soon as possible. 

To find an experienced wildlife rescuer close to you, the following are some of the volunteer groups that operate around Melbourne and Victoria, who will be able to help you.  Rescuers will ensure that the animal is handled properly and gets into the hands of a registered volunteer wildlife carer or gets vet assistance as soon as possible.

Wildlife Victoria:  03 8400 7300 (Victoria wide)
Help For Wildlife:  0417 380 687 (Victoria wide)
AWARE:  0412 433 727 (Frankston & Mornington Peninsular)
Wildlife Rescuers:  0417 506 941 (Northern Suburbs of Melbourne)
Australian Animal Rescue: 0430 883 083 (South East suburbs & Mornington Peninsular)

W.R.E.S.:  0427 301 401 (Central Victoria)
WIRES :  13000 947 37 (New South Wales & northern border of Victoria)
BADGER:  1300 223 427 (Ballarat & surrounds)
WRIN:  0419 356 433 (Bendigo & surrounds)
Phillip Island Rescuers:  0409 558 482 (Phillip Island)

If you find an animal that needs help, you should do the following:

Large animal, such as a kangaroo or wombat: 

• Keep a safe distance from the animal and make sure that other members of the public are also keeping away from the animal.
• Call one of the wildlife groups (listed below) for experienced rescuer assistance.
• Do not approach the animal as this will cause stress to the animal and may result in the animal moving away, making rescue harder.

Smaller animals:

• If the animal is small and you feel safe to pick it up, you should wrap it in a towel or blanket and put into a secure box or ventilated tub.
• Keep the animal in a warm, dark, quiet place.
• Keep any pets and children away from the animal. Many animals die from stress so please do not expose the animal to other people.
• Call an experienced wildlife rescuer group (see list below) for help.
• If the animal is badly injured and you are able to transport it, take the animal to the nearest vet making sure the animal is secure and there are no loud noises in the car.
• If taking an animal to the vet, please make sure that you provide them with the exact address/location that you found the animal, together with the date and time you found it. Our wildlife has the best chance of survival if they are returned to their home when they have recovered.

If you are unsure if an animal needs to be rescued, please call for advice. 

Wild Days Wildlife Shelter is primarily a shelter for rehabilitation and care of wildlife once rescued. While many of the volunteers at Wild Days are wildlife rescuers too and may be able to assist, our capacity may be limited by the needs at the shelter on any given day. The numbers provided above are organisations with large numbers of rescuers and are dedicated to rescuing wildlife and getting them promptly to a vet or registered shelter. Wild Days volunteers are part of those organisations too.

If more people in the community take responsibility for helping those animals in need, particularly when the primary reasons for their injury or illness is human actions, either directly or indirectly, then we may start to reverse the damage being done to our wildlife.  

Thank you for being one of the people who care!