Although wildlife rehabilitation looks glamourous and all about cuddling gorgeous animals, it is actually a thankless job that requires an iron stomach and heaps of dedication. And the right permits, of course.
Wendy Brodie of Friends of Free Wildlife, Deidre Joubert of Wild and Free Wildlife Rehabilitation and Christina Carrieres of BC SPCA Wild Animal Rehabilitation Centre in Canada.
HECTORSPRUIT – Wildlife experts Christina Carrieres from BC SPCA Wild Animal Rehabilitation Centre (ARC) in Canada and Wendy Brodie from Friends of Free Wildlife in Gauteng shared their experiences of the industry during a visit to Wild and Free Rehabilitation Centre over the past weekend.
Carrieres, who is a certified wildlife rehabilitator with over 15 years of experience in the field, presented basic and advanced wildlife rehabilitation courses to a handful of dedicated animal lovers.
Wendy and Christina get a closer look at an elephant who ambled past and then posed for photos, while the attendees of the course took a lunch break.
She has been teaching these courses for the past four years and said wildlife rehabilitation in the various parts of the world is quite similar.
The wide majority of cases are usually due to human action and many areas face the same kinds of issues, such as animals injured by snares, domestic animals, pollution, vehicles crashing into animals, encroaching of habitat or even cultural practices.
How it is dealt with depends on the needs of the animal, the area and environment. Through sharing experiences, research and other resources, people in the industry can find the best way to treat each animal.
Because the aim of wildlife rehabilitation is to get the animal back into the wild and ensure it can survive there, human contact needs to be limited. Thus, contrary to public perception, rehabilitation requires long hours of observing the animal, ensuring their enclosures are a good fit, feeding them and cleaning up after them.
“Cuddling is a death sentence, because that means the animal becomes dependent on a human and will not be able to fend for itself in the wild,” Brodie explained.
Carrieres started out as an unpaid intern at Wild ARC but her passion and determination landed her a full-time, and later senior, job. She explained that you need to be truly dedicated to be part of the industry as it is a mostly thankless job. And one that is underfunded, which means they constantly need to ask for donations and assistance to keep doing their essential work.
“Education is key, and it is very rewarding after I have presented the courses to know that I have helped animals indirectly,” Carrieres said with a smile.
Carrieres and Brodie explained that wildlife rehabilitation cannot be done without also dealing with the social issues in the various areas. Social media and the Internet have proved instrumental in raising awareness of the industry and connecting professionals across the world. Animals can be identified and helped faster by sending photos and information via social media, research is more readily available and experts can ask advice or share experiences with people across the world
Friends of Free Wildlife facilitate courses across South Africa and Brodie explained that it is attended by a diverse group of people. The basic rehabilitation course caters for any level of experience, from people who just want to know how to help an injured animal if they come across it, to those who want to volunteer at a rehabilitation centre.
They not only handle the treatment of larger animals like lions and other predators but also smaller, often overlooked animals like reptiles, mongoose and birds.
Human action is the major cause of injuries to animals. Last year Wild and Free had to clean a tortoise whose shell was clogged by tar to enable it to eat and move again.
Brodie and Carreira explained that the course is just a guide as every animal, condition or injury is different. “No matter how much you know, you can always learn more and will come across something you have not dealt with before. Wildlife rehabilitation keeps you humble and teaches you to you do not need to do it all on your own,” they agreed.
Wild and Free hopes to host another wildlife rehabilitation course next year and interested parties can contact Joubert for enquiries on 079-988-5748.