WCB BADGE HOLDER BENEFITS
THESE ARE THE BENEFITS THAT WCB HOLDERS CAN EXCLUSIVELY ENJOY...
BENEFIT FROM BEING CELEBRATED FOR YOUR PROVEN, HIGH WELFARE PRACTICES, WHETHER YOU'RE A LARGE RESCUE OR A HOME BASED REHABBER...
We want to unify the current ‘Big Rescue Centre/Home Based Rehabber’ divide. What does this mean? Right now there’s a lack of trust on both sides between the large Rescue centres (with Vets either onsite or visiting the site and with large hospital spaces etc) and smaller more home based Rescues, who can either be referred to as ‘Backyard Rescues’ or ‘Home Based Rescues’. Larger centres can sometimes think of smaller Rescues as offering much lesser care for wildlife and smaller Rehabbers can sometimes accuse larger centres of not treating each animal who comes in as an individual, as they see so many. It has been our experience that it makes NO difference whether a Rescue is huge or tiny, in terms of the care they provide: it’s all about having the mindset to treat each animal as an individual whilst being set up to offer the best care possible.
So let’s talk about smaller Rescues and use them as an example of the WCB as a celebratory force…. All of the WCB Holders who are very small Rescues, working out of parts of their home or from outdoor buildings in their garden, are all set up to a very high standard: the same standard as large centres. They have the same level of knowledge on the species they’re rehabbing as staff who work in large centres, they have a very close working relationship with a local Vet (which is generally so close it could be called collaborative) so that the wildlife in their care have access to the same medical treatments as the wildlife in large centres, and finally their premises, though much smaller, are of the same hospital standard, with suitable enclosures, enrichment, social groupings and the same high levels of biosecurity and quarantine facilities.
Through the WCB celebrating large/small Rescues - through this MAP - we are working to build trust and much greater understanding between ALL Rescues so that there can be much greater respect and everyone can help wildlife even more.
BENEFIT FROM BEING PART OF THE 'WILD AFFINITY NETWORK'...
In other countries, across the world, collaborating with Researchers helps to validate the incredible, on the ground efforts by Wildlife Rescues.
Because of this, we started to wonder if a new 'hub' (created under the WCB banner) to unite Wildlife Rehabbers and Researchers could help to celebrate the work of not only larger WCB Holders but also WCB home based Rehabbers in the UK. Within this hub, we'd be helping to initiate Researcher/Rehabber relationships, to play a part in validating WCB Holder efforts…
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With just the beginnings of an idea, I asked Jacqui (who recently ran the WCB ‘How To Say No’ webinar and who is a research academic in both psychology and anthrozoology - human-animal studies - as well as being a Rehabber herself) what she thought and she liked the idea so much that she offered to partner with the WCB on a collaboration that we have called the ‘WILD AFFINITY NETWORK’, to make it happen.
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Jacqui feels that having a systematic process of self-regulation such as the WCB, and being able to prove the high professionalism of our WCB Holders, will attract input and collaboration from researchers, and therefore help to bridge the gap between research and practice.
BENEFIT FROM BEING PART OF A SAFE, TRUSTWORTHY COMMUNITY, IN WHICH TO DEBATE/DISCUSS WILDLIFE CARE...
One of the original hopes for the WCB was that it would enable a safe community where members could reliably trust one another (as all Badge Holders had a proven minimum set of standards in common) so that respectful discussions could be held over new research & different treatments/care provided to wildlife, and more. We hope that this will be of benefit to Rehabbers & wildlife alike.
We’re really pleased to announce that we’re now planning to start these sorts of meetings for WCB Holders, in 2024, in late Autumn/early Winter. Find out more HERE.
HERE ARE THE LONGER TERM 'OVERALL' BENEFITS - ACROSS THE UK - AS WCB HOLDERS PIONEER HIGH STANDARDS IN WILDLIFE CARE...
BY BECOMING A WCB HOLDER, YOU COULD...
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...CREATE MUCH HIGHER STANDARDS OF CARE FOR OUR UK WILDLIFE CASUALTIES...
The WCB could raise much higher standards of care for our UK wildlife (that only continue to get improved upon) and trust and shared knowledge growing within the WCB community.
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...CREATE A UNITED COMMUNITY OF WILDLIFE REHABBERS WHO TRUST ONE ANOTHER.
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The WCB is working to create a united community where rehabbers can trust one another and know that everyone is working from the same mindset and starting from the same, minimum standards: putting the wildlife casualties first.
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Until the WCB was launched, it was almost always the case - for great Wildlife Rehabbers across the UK - that their focus was being pulled in two directions... High welfare Rescues often find themselves dividing their efforts on BOTH running a high welfare Rescue and also investing time into trying to prevent well intentioned but lower welfare practices in their area.
This is really admirable but, now that the WCB has launched (thanks to the united efforts of Vet Professionals & Wildlife Rehabbers) we hope to create a structure in which high welfare Wildlife Rescues are free to just focus on their own efforts, whilst also feeling increasingly safe and happy in the knowledge that wildlife across the UK are starting to ONLY be taken to high welfare Rescues/Rehabbers (not ending up stuck in tricky situations with Rehabbers who can't really help them, despite good intentions).
WCB Holders can be a high welfare example to others and a proven place in their area to take wildlife to.
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...INITIATE A POOLING OF DATA, EXPERIENCES AND INSIGHTS FROM ACROSS THE COUNTRY, ALLOWING EVERYONE TO GENERATE AND COLLATE MORE KNOWLEDGE AND IMPROVE THEIR WILDLIFE CARE EVEN MORE.
A pooling of data, experiences and insights from across the country could be instigated, allowing everyone to generate more knowledge and improve their wildlife care even more.