WCB CPD WEBINARS
These webinars will take place on Zoom. They're free to WCB Holders AND non holders alike at the moment. Everyone is welcome...
VET PROFESSIONALS/WILDLIFE REHABBERS WEBINAR
[THIS WEBINAR HAS ALREADY BEEN HELD - 2 NEW FORMALISED GROUPS TO HELP VETS/REHABBERS WORK TOGETHER TO BETTER HELP WILDLIFE WILL BE LAUNCHED EARLY 2023, OFF THE BACK OF THIS WEBINAR]
A panel of individual wildlife experienced Vet Professionals (Vet Surgeons and Vet Nurses) talking 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.
Our Panellists are...
Graham Blow: Vet Surgeon in Practice and Chair of Hedgehog Helpline with over 30 years of Hedgehog experience.
Heidi Hargreaves: Vet Surgeon in Practice and at The Secret World Wildlife Rescue.
Beth Ragan: RVN in Practice and one of the founding Rehabbers of Feline & Wildlife Rescue (treating birds as part of a Rescue and in Practice).
Fiona Cook: RVN in Practice and one of the Founders of Feline & Wildlife Rescue (specialising in Hedgehogs).
Emily Tindall: RVN in Practice and one of the Rehabbers of Feline & Wildlife Rescue (treating wildlife as part of a Rescue and in Practice).
They will share their own personal experiences and the ups and downs and then the audience (of other Vet Professionals, Wildlife Rescues & Rehabbers) will be invited to ask questions and then everyone will be invited to have a positive and proactive ‘brainstorming chat’ on how Vets & Rescues can best help each other to support our UK wildlife. This webinar space will be focusing on the positive and communal ways (and the brainstorming section will be controlled to be as upbeat, kind and productive as possible) that we can all help and support one another, in order to best support our wildlife.
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WILDLIFE RESCUE ORGANISATIONAL POLICIES
[THIS WEBINAR HAS ALREADY BEEN HELD - POLICY TEMPLATES ARE BEING MADE AVAILABLE EARLY 2023, FOR EVERYONE WHO WANTS THEM]
Lucy Steele (founder of Wild Things Rescue) & Emily Elliott (Supervising Rehabber at RSPCA Oak & Furrows) will be talking about the specific policies that can help Wildlife Rescues to operate as efficiently as possible: supporting staff and making sure that a Wildlife Rescue is always operating within the law AND ensuring that all wildlife casualties are offered the best care. Lucy will be specifically featuring the different written policies that Wild Things Rescue have set in place and utilise to enable a great work environment and to ensure that wildlife casualties receive the very best medical and rehabilitative treatment. Emily will be talking about her general experience (having rehabilitated wildlife long term at what was an independent and now a RSPCA centre) on why having policies to all work by is so important and how various polices feature in her working life (enabling a positive work space) ensuring the best hospital environment for the wildlife casualties she has treated over the years.
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OUR 2023 WEBINARS ARE...
HELPING WILD BIRDS IN PRACTICE
[THIS WEBINAR HAS ALREADY BEEN HELD]
Beth Ragan (both a RVN and one of the original founding members of FAWR) will be talking about her work not only rehabbing birds through the work of the Feline & Wildlife Rescue Nottingham but also in practice, as a Vet Nurse. Beth has extensive experience and - very importantly and interestingly - due to her General Vet Practice work, she was also able to notice all of the ways and reasons why wild Birds weren’t necessarily getting full medical care in Vet Practices (often just due to lack of knowledge and confidence with each species) so she created a ‘Treating Wild Birds In Practice How To Guide Pdf’ that has enabled a lot of Vet Practices in Nottingham to treat birds coming in AND has been made part of the ‘Vet Wildlife Support Package’, going out to Vets nationwide. Thanks to Beth’s experience and efforts, a lot of wild Birds are benefitting and she will be talking about her experiences in general and how she thinks that Vet Practices and Wildlife Rescues can specifically support one another to give more wild Birds a second chance.
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WILDLIFE IN LAW
Advocates For Animals Solicitors are going to kindly offer a Q&A on how our UK wildlife are protected and feature within our UK legislation. The first half of this webinar will cover the various laws and legislation and go over the ways that wildlife are featured and protected and the rights that they have. The second half of this webinar (each half is about 20 minutes long) will be a Q&A for Wildlife Rescues/Rehabbers and Vet Professionals to make sure that they fully understand the laws and wildlife rights. Due to lack of time, if a Wildlife Rescue or Vet has a specific situation that they wish to get advice on, they will have to contact A4A after the webinar and there may be consultancy fees that need to be paid if specific answers - bespoke to the case - are required. A4A offer an exceptional service (at a very low rate, in order to help as many animals as possible) but we must be careful not to expect free services or legal practices like A4A, fighting for the rights of animals everywhere, will not be able to be self sustaining.
[THIS WEBINAR HAS ALREADY BEEN HELD]
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WILDLIFE RESCUE HUBS & REHAB FOSTERING/VOLUNTEERING TIERS
More and more Wildlife Rescues are establishing themselves and operating as a ‘Hub’. A Hub can be defined as a set up that has one central base (this can be someone’s home or a building that is a specific central work place) as well as a number of off-site spaces (within the homes of Carers/Fosterers/Volunteers) where wildlife casualties are allocated to be cared for by staff/volunteers of various levels of skill/experience. It is vitally important that wildlife casualties are only rehabbed (on and off the central site) by those who have the right experience for the needs of that animal. Some wildlife casualties (orphans, for example) require a basic level of care but other casualties require round the clock medical supervision and monitoring by an experienced Rehabber, supported by a Vet. Lucy Steele (of Wild Things Rescue) and Sarah Liney (of Hedgehog Helpline) will be joint hosting this Webinar (and answering questions) on the ‘Fostering Tier Systems’ that Wild Things and Hedgehog Helpline have in place. Both Rescues have similar and highly efficient structural tier systems: each structure - in its own way - ensures that new/experienced Rehabbers start off in the right position (and are monitored and held accountable) within each organisation so that every wildlife casualty that is taken in (by both Wild Things and HH) will only ever receive the right care from a suitably knowledgeable and experienced Rehabber.
[LATE MARCH - DATE TBA, 19:30, 1HR]