WCB: 'FROM STARTING TO NOW'

WCB: 'From The Start, To Now'

We're coming up to our 4 year anniversary, this February 2026. Here's an overview of our launch & progress thus far:

The Wildlife Care Badge: Why, What & How?

THE CHALLENGE, WHEN THE WCB BEGAN DEVELOPMENT IN JANUARY 2021: NO GOVERNMENT REGULATION OF WILDLIFE CARE

There’s no regulation of the wildlife rescue industry in Wales, England & Northern Ireland.

This lack of regulation means that almost anyone can set up as a 'Rescue'. [*Please note that we are NOT advocating this practice, without the relevant training & experience. To do the above would be the WORST thing that someone could do for our UK wildlife. To truly be of help to poorly/orphaned wildlife, Rescuers require a significant level of knowledge & training AND a strong, working relationship with a local Veterinary Practice (it is not enough to just be a client there)]. If you're reading this & would like to set up as a Rescue but don't know where to start, get in touch and we will be happy to get you the support and advice you need, to really be of service in the best way, as a brilliant Wildlife Rescuer.

Since almost anyone can set up as a 'Rescue’, unfortunately lots of well intentioned people do BUT they often have no training, no suitable premises, they don’t work with a vet - which means no access to the right medications, no access to veterinary diagnostic tools & support like x-rays, blood tests and life saving operations - and they often have little to no knowledge at all of the animals they are taking in or what injuries/illnesses they might be experiencing. Even keeping up with theoretical changes in practices (attendees of wildlife conferences know how important keeping up with new research & recommendations is) is out of their remit.

All of this leads to a great deal of unnecessary suffering (and sometimes to the death of wildlife who may well have been rehabbed & released back to the wild, if they'd been taken in by someone suitably experienced).

THE SOLUTION: SYSTEMIC CHANGE, TO ENABLE WILDLIFE TO ALWAYS RECEIVE HIGH WELFARE EMERGENCY CARE

Instead of waiting for government licensing, we represent the industry self regulating itself. We at the WCB are a collective of Vet Professionals, Wildlife Rehabbers (and other professionals) who have united together to develop some self regulation for UK Wildlife Rescues.

At the heart of our WCB efforts is the developing of a UK Wildlife Rescuers Map that features proven Wildlife Rescues/Rehabbers who can confidently offer knowledgeable, high welfare rehabilitative care to wildlife casualties & orphans. This is so that members of the public, Vet Professionals and even other Wildlife Rehabbers can know who they can confidently pass poorly/orphaned wildlife to, across the UK, for high welfare care.

WE ARE - AT THE MOMENT - ONE OF A KIND:

The WCB is currently the only Wildlife Rescue Map/Database in the UK that features Wildlife Rescues who have proven standards of care, akin to actual licensing (annual onsite checks, exams on wildlife care passed & ongoing high welfare practices proven throughout the year).

Timeline (At A Glance):

Development & Launch:

Getting started (building trust, adapting & improving):

2025: it's still early days but we seem to have settled into keeping 'going & growing' now:

The WCB was developed BY Wildlife Professionals FOR Wildlife Professionals.

Starting in January 2021, the WCB was developed & launched by a united team of Wildlife Experienced Vets, Small 'Home Based' Rehabbers, larger Wildlife Rescue Centres, General Practice Vets and other Wildlife Professionals. Efforts were made across various social media platforms to invite every Wildlife Rescue/Rehabber in the UK to be involved in the development. A lot of Wildlife Rehabbers/Vet Professionals attended, with a CORE TEAM attending most of the meetings & developing the WCB Badges.

During development, we hit the inevitable hurdle of the difference of opinion between Rehabbers who felt that it was poor welfare to keep disabled wild creatures in long term sanctuary (captivity) and those who felt it was a better choice than euthanasia. In the end it was suggested to have 2 WCB Badges, one for those who were anti-captive & one for those who were pro-sanctuary. The 'Rehab, Release & Transit Badge' (rehab & release practices only) launched in February 2022. The 'Long Term Care Badge' (rehab, release AND sanctuary options practiced) is still in development, as debates on what 'high welfare long term captive housing' is, is still under discussion.

[The reason the ‘LTC badge' is still something we could eventually launch is because we (the WCB Developers) are only working within the current laws and - at the moment - it is not illegal to keep captive unreleasable wildlife.

As it is not illegal - and actively happening, at large sanctuary spaces as well as within home premises, unable to be prevented by law, even if you're reading this and of the opinion that it should be - we want to shine a spotlight on these animals and make sure that they are at least being kept within high welfare standards. Equally, we have found that by bringing this topic to the table for open & supportive discussion (especially by sharing the Euthanasia/Captivity Questionnaire, created by Lucy Steele, at Wild Things Rescue) it has helped some Rehabbers to really consider the pros & cons of either side and really examine each animal's particular case. It's all very much a work in progress.]

The WCB launched at the Secret World Wildlife Conference in February 2022. As a non Rehabber, working with the Wildlife Rescue Industry, Alana (WCB Founder, amongst others) was invited to present an ‘Outsider's Overview’ which also involved introducing the WCB.

So what does the RR&T Badge, that we have launched, do? How is the WCB developing a UK Wildlife Rescuers Map?

- Well, the RR&T Badge launched in 2022 with the requirements of WCB Holders sitting a short online Knowledge Assessment & having a Vet Visit of their premises. This evolved, over a year or so, into the same Knowledge Assessment (although we took away some questions that were less relevant and replaced them with better ones) and, also, instead of a Vet Surgeon having to visit the Rescue, a 'veterinary visit' of a premises could instead be undertaken either by the Vet that the Rescue worked with or a RVN at that same Practice. (They fill in the exact same form).

- To keep being a WCB Holder began with 2 monthly checks that then evolved in quarterly checks (but the checks remained the same). These are also simple: every quarter I - Alana (Founder) - jump on an 'accountability check in' video call for 5 minutes with each WCB Holder (at a time that is convenient for them) and they show me bits of record keeping/paperwork. You can see the full info on becoming/staying a WCB Holder HERE.

February 2022 to 2024 featured a huge amount of holding 'open meetings' online to share about the WCB & to especially develop trust & prove that the WCB was genuine in wanting to support Wildlife Rescuers & wildlife alike. Our first waves of WCB Holders joined (and from 2023 onwards we also began to celebrate our first WCB Holder Renewals). It was a real rollercoaster at the start and everyone was finding their way forward: this was SELF regulation after all & a structure was being put forward & taken up (and adapted on & improved) where no structure had existed before. We were all finding our way.

2025 was when the WCB really seemed to have settled into itself and to take off. The WCB is, of course, totally voluntary, but this was the year where WCB Holder annual renewals appeared to have become a matter of comfortable routine & where we had our first significant increase in brilliant new WCB Holders. Now it's 2026 & we're still taking it step by step, but, at the end of the day, we're all worth the effort: humans & animals alike. We are fully committed to keeping on going & growing.

AN OVERVIEW OF HOW THE WCB STARTED & HOW WE HAVE EVOLVED:

A UNITED EFFORT... Even from the start of the WCB's development in January 2021, it was always important & promised that no one was to be charged a fee to become a WCB Holder. The whole point of the WCB was that it was everyone uniting together to enable high standards of wildlife care across the UK. We have stuck to this and - as you can see below - we've expanded our set up to even now monetarily support WCB Holders.

LOOKING AT THE INDUSTRY AS A WHOLE... From the beginning, there was also a general understanding of the Wildlife Rescue industry as a whole, that we were working from: an overview of the challenges (and how the WCB could offer at least a chunk of the solutions). This overview was presented first as the 'An Outsider's Overview' presentation and then was developed in much further detail, presented in this blog post HERE, about a year later.

ANIMAL BADGES... The WCB started with 4 'animal badges' for Wildlife Rescues to have: a 'hedgehog specific' badge, a 'bird specific' badge', a badge for those Rescues who rehabbed 'small mammals' & a badge for those Rescues who rehabbed 'large mammals.' Some of our WCB Holders have an 'All Species' Badge (meaning that they rehab hedgehogs, birds, small mammals & large mammals). Some of our WCB Holders have a badge for 'Birds, Hedgehogs & Small Mammals' & so on. You can see for yourself HERE. The WCB Knowledge Assessments have sections for each 'type' of animal that a Rescuer might rehab.

OUR WCB HOLDERS... All of our WCB Holders are listed HERE. Since we started, about 3/4s of our WCB Holders have stayed on board (renewing annually). Of those about another 1/4 are on 'pause' while they take a break from rehabbing, for various reasons. The WCB Holders who have left us have done so for various reasons, from closing down their Rescues to a few deciding that the WCB wasn't a good fit for them. It's all still very much a work in progress - and we're taking it day by day, as this hasn't been done before - but the big picture is worth it: every wildlife casualty/orphan in the UK to always be taken in by a Rehabber who is set up to really help them, as they deserve. A lot of our WCB Holders are on their 3rd or 4th renewal now: it's been a real team effort with a lot of trusting that the commitment of all of us will work out & that Wildlife Carers & wildlife alike will benefit from the results. [We have some new WCB Holders finishing taking the steps to get their badge & some enquiries from new WCB Holders too, so far, in 2026].

BAT BADGE... In December 2023 (after months of development) we were really excited to announced the launch of our 'bat specific' badge: our 'Bat Badge'. This was developed by Heidi Hargreaves, Veterinary Surgeon & Ashley Dale, Bat specialist Rehabber & ecologist.

WCB HOLDER BENEFITS... The WCB began with the 'big picture' benefit of all of us enabling the acceptance of the agreed upon high standards of rehabilitative care that had been missing in the UK. One of the immediate goals was also - very importantly - to unify the ‘Big Rescue Centre vs Home Based Rehabber’ divide, that existed: we think that this has now significantly improved since 2022. As time has gone on - In the almost 4 years since the WCB launched - WCB Holders have very much become much more of a community of Rehabbers and we've taken a lot of feedback on board. In response to this feedback, over 2024/2025 we've evolved to now provide a monthly WCB Grant for WCB Holders, Driver Teams for WCB Holders, ongoing training for WCB Holders, access to a Wildlife Care Advisor & a lot more. See full benefits HERE.

THE WCB KNOWLEDGE ASSESSMENTS... 61 Wildlife Carers, thus far, have sat & passed the WCB Knowledge Assessments - not just WCB Holders & their volunteers but also veterinary professionals & other Rehabbers, who wanted to just test their knowledge base and see if they had any weak areas (using the KA as a training exercise).

OUR 'FEEDBACK SYSTEM' & HOW IT'S EVOLVED... It was very important, from the start, that the WCB really stood for what we said it did: high welfare standards of rehabilitative care. The biggest reason for the 'Feedback System' that we set up just after our launch, however, was to protect our Badge Holders, as well as wildlife. It is extremely common within the Wildlife Rescue industry for rumour to abound. Reputations can be (and have been) ruined, based on misunderstandings between wildlife professionals. The Feedback System was set up as a way to enable even more transparency around WCB Holders so that they could prove their high standards even further, if questioned. Despite our good intentions however, the system became rather a hazard: Rehabbers (who didn't have the Badge or any other checks done on them either) used it quite often to report concerns about WCB Holders (who had at least sat the KA and had a veterinary check of their premises). Sometimes these were totally genuine concerns - and the system worked well to clear up misunderstandings - but more & more the system was used to try and call into question WCB Holders simply because there was a local issue going on between the WCB Holder & other local Rescues & the system was seen as one way to gain the upper hand. So, after putting out this BLOG POST suggesting making changes to the system, in 2025 we went ahead & upgraded it & it's proven a lot more successful. See how it works now HERE.

THE WCB GRANT FOR WCB HOLDERS... The WCB Grant has been one of our happiest successes & our favourite way to support WCB Holders. It launched in September 2024 & it's very much owned by WCB Holders themselves. Each can apply for the monthly Grant (just £100 per month) and the grant applications are presented to all WCB Holders, for them to vote on, so it's very much the community self supporting itself. (After all, who knows better than Rehabbers, how much an application for funds for a project might mean and what a difference such funding might make)? You can see what has been funded so far HERE.

WCB HOLDER SHARES... To celebrate our 3rd anniversary in February 2025, we were really pleased to share the words of WCB Holders themselves: HERE.

NEW BADGES... During the summer of 2025, we had an opportunity to unite with Bird Of Prey specialist Rehabbers & at least one wildlife experienced Vet to start developing a 'bird of prey' specific badge. This is ongoing.

WCB KA REVISION SUPPORT... This was an idea that came from a fab Rehabber sitting a KA and, afterwards, we were chatting over what more could be done to support Wildlife Carers in advance of taking the KA. It was put forward that we could create lots of mock test papers (multiple choice, just like in the KA) to help Rehabbers revise and feel more confident. This is now very much on our list of 'next steps' and a big priority. We meant to publish a range of these mock papers in 2025 but then it turned out to be much busier for the WCB than expected. They're now scheduled to be published before Spring 2026.

POTENTIAL NEW COLLABORATIONS ON THE HORIZON... 2025 was a BIG year for us: we had 2 lots of meetings with 2 different, wildlife & welfare specialist organisations in the UK, to discuss our different bits of work & to even touch on potential collaborations. There were 5 meetings of this kind (with these 2 organisations) over 2025 & we're feeling very optimistic about 2026 & helping more wildlife, definitely individually & possibly together.

VET PRACTICE / PROFESSIONALS WILDLIFE SUPPORT:

VET PRACTICE WILDLIFE SUPPORT... We started off the WCB - when we were in the development phase - just by wanting to create a Map/Directory that featured Wildlife Rescues with proven high welfare standards. Very quickly, we saw that this meant providing support to both Vet Practices and Wildlife Rescues, to enable everyone to confidently work together to serve our UK wildlife.

In October 2022 we launched the 'Vet Wildlife Support Package' (a collection of 'how to treat wildlife in a vet practice' pdfs & videos that had come onto our radar).

By 2025, this had grown significantly into what we now call our 'Vet Practice Wildlife Support'. This features (you can also see for yourself HERE):

- All of the 'How To Guides' (pdfs & videos) available free for instant download.

- Lots of other helpful info & template documents, to aid Vet Practices, available free for instant download.

- FREE access to the Wildlife Care Advisor whom we started to fund from July 2025.

- And lots more. (There have been scores of downloads of the documents we've made available already, especially from Vet Practices we haven't had contact with before, so it seems that what we're offering has been shared pretty widely, which is great. There's also been lots of use of the Wildlife Care Advisor already this year).

THE 'VET PROFESSIONALS WILDLIFE SELF SUPPORT NETWORK'... In 2022 we began a a group for Vet Professionals to self create a formal, friendly national/regional network(s) so that the more wildlife experienced Vet Professionals in the network could be accessible and available to offer advice - either urgent or general - to those who would benefit from support, when wildlife casualties are dropped into Practices. We had 2 meetings (which went well) but then other bits of the WCB demanded more attention so this was put on pause. With the 'Vet Practice Wildlife Support' now settled into its current form, we plan to restart these meetings in 2026, if they are still wanted.

SINCE WE BEGAN, THE WCB HAS BEEN SET UP AS A PLATFORM THROUGH WHICH WILDLIFE CARERS HAVE BEEN ABLE TO SHARE ABOUT THEIR DIFFERENT AREAS OF EXPERTISE & EXPERIENCES, FOR OTHERS TO LEARN ABOUT...

WCB WEBINARS... We have hosted the following FREE webinars over the years, not just for WCB Holders but for ANY Wildlife Carers who want to attend (with more to come in 2026, see HERE). Here's the webinars we've held so far:

VET PROFESSIONALS / WILDLIFE REHABBERS WEBINAR: A panel of individual wildlife experienced Vet Professionals (Vet Surgeons and Vet Nurses) talked about what it’s like - as Vet Professionals who work both in General Practice and either with Wildlife Rescues or as actual founders of their own Wildlife Rescues - to treat wildlife in practice.

WILDLIFE RESCUE ORGANISATIONAL POLICIES: Lucy Steele (founder of Wild Things Rescue) & Emily Elliott (Supervising Rehabber at RSPCA Oak & Furrows) talked about the specific policies that can help Wildlife Rescues to operate as efficiently as possible.

HELPING WILD BIRDS IN PRACTICE: Beth Ragan (both a RVN and one of the Rehabbers of FAWR) talked about her work not only rehabbing birds through the work of the Feline & Wildlife Rescue Nottingham but also in practice, as a Vet Nurse.

WILDLIFE IN LAW: Advocates For Animals Solicitors kindly offered a Q&A on how our UK wildlife are protected and feature within our UK legislation.

HOW TO FUNDRAISE: Jon Beresford from Brinsley Animal Rescue (WCB Holder) talked about fundraising, sharing what he has learnt over the past 14 years from starting with nothing to raising over £100k a year.

HOW TO SAY NO: Staying true to capacity limits can be very hard in wildlife rescue: there is a great deal of pressure from members of the public, and even Vet Practices sometimes, to accept 'just one more' wildlife casualty / orphan. This WCB Webinar, by the esteemed Jacqui Wilmshurst MSc PhD CPSychol AFBPsS, was about how to say 'no' in the face of these demands, in the best way possible.

AMERICAN WILDLIFE REGULATION: Across the USA - unlike in the UK - there is extensive wildlife rehabilitation regulation & much clearer ways to proceed in wildlife care. The wonderful Halley Buckey (International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council) shared what wildlife rehabilitation was like across different American states and what that meant for their local wildlife.

A CASE STUDY OF DEVELOPING POSITIVE RELATIONSHIPS WITH VETERINARY PRACTITIONERS: We were really excited about this webinar…. Prickleback Urchin Hedgehog Rescue have excellent relationships with their local Veterinary Practices: they’re very mutually supportive & collaborative relationships. We invited Rachel, one of the founders from Prickleback Urchin Hedgehog Rescue, to chat about her own experiences in establishing these veterinary relationships.

WILDLIFE RESCUE HUBS & REHAB FOSTERING / VOLUNTEERING TIERS: More and more Wildlife Rescues are establishing themselves and operating as a ‘Hub’. Sarah Liney (of Hedgehog Helpline) hosted this Webinar - and answered questions - on the ‘Fostering Tier Systems’ that Hedgehog Helpline, as a hub, have in place.

HEALTH & SAFETY IN THE WILDLIFE RESCUE INDUSTRY: Regardless of whether you have employees or volunteers, whether your organisation is small or larger, Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) matters. Cofounder of Brinsley Animal Rescue, Jon Beresford, offered to host a CPD talk on the importance of HSE and the relevance to us. In his working career leading a large multi-skilled team in a hazardous environment offshore and with his HSE Qualifications, Jon covered Legislation, Regulation as well as the practicalities of HSE management and documentation such as Policy, Risk Assessment and procedures, and at a level relevant for wildlife rehabilitation.

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'WILDLIFE PROFESSIONALS UNITED MEETINGS'... This was a group uniting Vet Professionals and Rehabbers to see if there were any logistical templates that could be set up to help Vet Practices and their local Wildlife Rescues work better together, to help wildlife. Meetings within this group started in 2022 & ran all through up until the end of 2024. [2025 became very busy for the WCB so we didn't hold these meetings last year but - if they're wanted - we'll hold more in 2026]. You can check out the Group/Meetings HERE and one of our main templates - 'How Can A Wildlife Rehabber Set Themselves Up To Be In The Strongest Possible Position, To Start Or Renew A Rehabber/Vet Relationship... ?' - created together .

THE WCB HAS LAUNCHED BITS OF RESEARCH & IDEAS THAT WE HOPE COULD BE OF BENEFIT TO WILDLIFE CARERS & WILDLIFE ALIKE. THESE ARE REALLY JUST STARTING OUT & ARE A WORK IN PROGRESS...

RESEARCH IDEAS LAUNCHED... We have launched 2 bits of Research that we thought could really help the experiences of wildlife during rehabilitation. The research bits (which have a few submissions each so far) are: 'How Do You Use Technology For The Well Being Of Wildlife Pre-Rehab, During Rehab & Post Release?' AND 'Respecting & Enabling The Wildness & Autonomy Of Wildlife Patients.'

COMPASSION FATIGUE SUPPORT... From 2021 we began running what we called either 'Rescue Relief' or 'Compassion Fatigue Support' sessions (free). These have run/off throughout the years, dependent on demand.

PREDATOR PROOFING TEMPLATES... Kevin from Humane Wildlife Solutions has started creating this invaluable set of 'Predator Proofing Advice' Templates, to help Wildlife Rescues & Vet Practices best know how to successfully predator proof their enclosures. See HERE.

WILDLIFE JOURNAL / VET JOURNAL... Our idea of the ‘Wildlife Care Journal’ was purely to create a universal, public & shared platform for UK Wildlife Rescuers to specifically publish case studies, that they have found unusual and/or interesting, to play a part in growing general knowledge and experience within the Wildlife Rescue community and to also take advantage of a space that recognises Wildlife Rehabbers for the emergency care professionals that you are. Here was our FIRST SUBMISSION.

In 2025, in conversation, it was suggested by a wildlife expert RVN to - first - launch a sort of ‘VET JOURNAL FOR WILDLIFE CARE’: Vet Surgeons & RVNs submit cases on wildlife they’ve treated, to be shared amongst other veterinary professionals to help educate one another. Here's the template for this Journal (created by a Vet Surgeon & RVN Team) that we are starting to share more widely this year: HERE.

WILDLIFE AFFINITY NETWORK... In 2024 we announced the launch of a new hub to unite wildlife rehabbers and researchers, to enable improved wellbeing for all within wildlife care. This is very much just starting, you can check it out HERE.

AND FINALLY, A REMINDER OF THE END VISION: THE REASON WHY THE WCB BEGAN IN THE FIRST PLACE...

The WCB just wants to be a way for Wildlife Carers to unite together - to self regulate / license themselves - to manifest this common goal:

All wildlife casualties across the UK to be helped/treated/served in such a way as to align with these basic rights...

The right to only be taken (to lose their power and independence) into a Rescue/Vets Practice when it is strictly necessary in order to try and save them or because they will not survive without intervention or because they will have a terrible death when a kinder, easier death could be offered.

The right to only be treated by someone (be that a Rescue or an independent Rehabber) who has suitable premises and a minimum level of knowledge to offer a high welfare environment and to give that wildlife casualty/orphan the greatest chance possible to survive/get better/grow into an adult (this necessitates a Rescue/Rehabber having either Vets on site or a good working relationship with a local Vet).

The right to be treated as an individual creature and a unique case (just like we humans always expect to be treated by our hospitals and doctors) - seeing what treatment suits them as an individual, giving them every chance possible - with only their welfare in mind.