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A 24/7 Emergency Rescue Service dedicated to wildlife - thanks to you.

Thursday, July 11, 2024

Since the catastrophic bushfires of 2019/20, when an estimated 3 billion native animals lost their lives, WIRES has been working to establish an Emergency Rescue Service dedicated to Australian native animals. 

To that end, WIRES invests more money in wildlife rescue and rehabilitation than any other group in Australia - more than the Federal, State and Territory governments combined.  

We rescue more native animals than any other group, take more calls per year from the community, provide more free and subsidised training, support more wildlife volunteers and purchase and deploy more wildlife ambulances and resources.

Our Disaster Relief and National Grants program funds wildlife groups across Australia. Since the bushfires, over $20 million has been distributed to wildlife hospitals, habitat restoration, vet support and grassroots conservation projects and programs.

Images courtesy of (to the left): WIRES grant recipient- St Andrews Shelter, who received WIRES funding for their project 'Marine wildlife rescue and rehabilitation equipment' (image to the right) courtesy of- Fly By Night, VIC who received needed supplies from WIRES during a recent Flying Fox starvation event)

Within WIRES itself, since the bushfires, our rescues have increased by 50%, averaging almost 23,000 more rescues every year. 

We now receive over 180,000 calls annually and assist more than 140,000 animals in distress every year. Last year, we rescued 42% of all threatened species in NSW, and 70% of all native wildlife rescues in NSW - an all time high since records have been kept. 

We support around 4,000 amazing WIRES volunteers (who dedicate hours of their own time every day), with best practice rehabilitation facilities, expert species-specific training, and we subsidise almost 100% of the food needed for wildlife in their care. 

To support the work of our volunteers, we also sustain a growing fleet of Wildlife Ambulances, employ full time Emergency Responders in NSW, QLD and Tasmania, invest in emergency response systems and fund our Wildlife Rescue Office to stay open 24 hours a day, every single day of the year.

With minimal government funding, this highly complex, round the clock operation relies almost solely on the sustained support of people like you. 

In fact, it costs many millions of dollars every year to sustain our Emergency Rescue Services for vulnerable wildlife – and that’s on top of the more than $63 million WIRES has spent delivering our wildlife-saving services and supporting grassroots projects and groups since the catastrophic bushfires.

In the face of extreme weather, development, and relentless habitat loss – we remain sincerely grateful to our donors, benefactors and corporate supporters for helping us provide the Emergency Rescue Service our native animals so urgently need and deserve.

Like all registered Australian charities we report annually to the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission and provide them with our audited financial reports.  

Here is the link to our page on the ACNC website 

For further information on how WIRES is allocating donations we received during the bushfires please visit - Emergency Response and Recovery Plan - WIRES