THERE ARE 2 WILDLIFE CARE BADGES
THE 'REHABILITATION, RELEASE & TRANSIT BADGE'
This badge stipulates the minimum standards of care, as set out in the BSAVA manual and Les Stocker’s ‘Practical Wildlife Care’ book.
Should a wildlife casualty require longer term rehabilitation (before release) and a Rehabber/smaller Wildlife Rescue doesn’t have the space or resources, there are requirements laid out for a ‘transit period’ as the casualty is transferred to a larger facility or more specialist care.
If a Wildlife Rescue/Rehabber has to debate euthanasia or a chance to adapt as a captive disabled in a sanctuary (for a particular wildlife casualty) a questionnaire is required (to fill in alongside your vet) to determine the best decision for the wildlife casualty.
THE 'LONG TERM CARE BADGE'
(STILL IN THE FINAL STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT)
[For those wildlife Vet/Rescues/Rehabbers - reading this - who don't agree with keeping captive 'unreleasable' wildlife casualties: the reason the ‘LTC badge' has been created is because we (the WCB Developers) are 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 - we want to shine a spotlight on these animals and make sure that they are being kept within the highest minimum standards.
With this in mind, the WCB (which is all about placing animal rights at the heart of wildlife rehabilitation) has set high minimum standards of care for wildlife captives with ongoing assessments and reports so that all captive wild lives are treated case by case and not only housed in high welfare conditions (with the right social grouping and lots of enrichment) but also continually checked on to make sure that they are thriving and - if they are ever deemed not to be coping - euthanasia must be back on the table as a potential 'kinder option.'
It can be up to government regulations - when they eventually come in - to decide on whether long term captivity should be legal or not. In the meantime, the ‘Long Term Care Badge' will hopefully massively improve (where needed) the well being of captive wild residents across the UK.]
The ‘Long Term Care Badge’ is for any Wildlife Rescue who also acts as a ‘sanctuary’ by housing ‘captive’ wildlife residents.
Any sanctuary who has the ‘Long Term Care Badge’ will automatically attain the ‘Rehabilitation, Release & Transit Badge’ because...
Both badges require agreeing to the same high standards of care, they require the same advisory vet visit & knowledge assessment & two-monthly accountability so if a Wildlife Rescue is applying for both badges, the single annual vet visits & knowledge assessments will count towards both badges.
The ‘Long Term Care Badge’ will also have additional requirements (on top of the ‘RR&T Badge’) with regards to vet-led ongoing recorded checks & assessments on all ‘captive’ residents to ensure that they are thriving within the sanctuary space.
