Wildlife Emergency Response & Recovery
WIRES, Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service, is the largest wildlife rescue organisation in Australia, and the largest charity focused 100% on improving outcomes for Australian wildlife. WIRES has been actively rescuing, rehabilitating, and working to preserve Australian wildlife for over 35 years.
Since the Black Summer fires, WIRES has been dedicated nationally to improving emergency rescue and response for wildlife, increasing rescue and rehabilitation capacity, supporting species and habitat recovery projects, and risk-reduction.
WIRES collaborates extensively with government agencies, rescue organisations, environmental groups, research institutions, and corporations, to implement programs designed to improve wildlife welfare. Initiatives include improving speed of rescue response, delivering best-practice rehabilitation training and facilities, and supporting the long-term protection and preservation of native habitat and native species.
Improving Emergency Rescue and Response
WIRES operates Australia's largest Wildlife Rescue Office, assisting over 130,000 animals annually. The Rescue Office is available 24/7 to assist the community nationally with wildlife information and rescue advice. WIRES works closely with the community, vets, and rescue organisations around Australia, 365 days a year to help rescue and rehabilitate sick, injured, and orphaned, native animals. WIRES has also established a professional Emergency Response Team (ERT), with full-time Emergency Responders and Wildlife Ambulances operating in QLD, NSW and TAS. The ERT work closely with local volunteers to manage the high volumes of urgent rescues.
Key initiatives include:
- Wildlife Rescue Office - expanding services to enable the fastest possible responses to rescue calls 24/7,
- Emergency Response Team - ensuring more staff and volunteers are available for urgent rescues and emergency deployments,
- Disaster Relief - establishing programs to ensure urgent wildlife needs can be actioned quickly during national disasters.
e.g. WIRES Flood Response 2022
Increasing Rescue and Rehabilitation Capacity
In recent years WIRES has supported hundreds of national projects to increase wildlife rescue and rehabilitation capacity, including the provision of food for wildlife in care, and the purchasing of medical supplies, rescue equipment, enclosures, and facilities. WIRES supports individual volunteers and national wildlife rescue organisations via different programs, representing over 10,000 wildlife rescuers and carers nationally. WIRES is also supporting wildlife organisations in QLD, NSW, SA and TAS with access to wildlife training courses, and access to WIRES rescue communications platform to facilitate faster rescues.
Key initiatives include:
- Volunteer Support & Wildlife Training - increasing volunteer support programs and access to wildlife training courses,
- Best Practice Facilities - building and operating new facilities that increase capacity for best practice wildlife rehabilitation,
- Wildlife Welfare - developing and expanding programs to improve wildlife welfare nationally.
e.g. WIRES Training Grants Program, WIRES & Woolworths Programs and WIRES National Grants Program
Supporting Recovery and Risk-reduction
Australia has the worst mammal extinction rate in the world, and the series of unprecedented disaster events in recent years have taken an enormous toll on native species. Horrific droughts, fires, floods and extreme weather have been experienced, and scientists have confirmed that more frequent, intense extreme weather events are likely due to climate change. Long-term solutions are needed to help native species recover from these disasters, and to reduce their future risk of extinction.
Key initiatives include:
- Species Recovery - initiating and partnering in projects that support the recovery, preservation, and conservation of native species,
- Habitat Recovery - initiating and supporting essential habitat recovery, preservation, and conservation projects,
- Risk Reduction - initiating and partnering in critical projects to protect native animals and mitigate future risks to wildlife.
e.g. WIRES Landcare Program, WIRES National Grants Program, WIRES Research Grants Program
Emergency Fund
The catastrophic 2019/2020 bushfires took an unprecedented toll on native animals and this crisis event was preceded by one of the worst droughts in Australia's history. The fires destroyed millions of hectares of critical wildlife habitat, and there are hundreds of species at risk of extinction. WIRES established an Emergency Fund to respond nationally to these disasters and support the long-term recovery of native species. The global support of WIRES work with wildlife has already delivered enormous impact for wildlife and we have many major projects in the pipeline. Learn More
