JANUARY 2024 - APRIL 2024...
New WCB Holder Applicants took the steps to becoming WCB Holders.
We ran 2 webinars: Jon Beresford, on ‘How To Fundraise’ and Jacqui Wilmshurst MSc PhD CPSychol AFBPsS, on 'How To Say 'No’'.
Our first WCB Giveaway… The WCB launched a ‘giveaway’ where one lucky Rescue won a copy of the BSAVA Wildlife Manual.
We had our first batch of 2024 WCB Holder renewals. (Very exciting)!
FROM APRIL - SEPTEMBER 2024, WE HAVE…
New WCB Holder Applicants took steps to become WCB Holders.
WCB Holders renewed their badges (woohoo)!
We were asked to make the Vet Wildlife Support Package more widely available, by a very large animal welfare organisation, so that was exciting.
Following on from the 'founding' presentation that we gave at the SWWR Conference in February 2022, when we launched, we drafted an overview called: 'What's Our Current Understanding Of The Wildlife Rescue Industry (As A Whole)?'
In September, we gave our first 'WCB Grant For WCB Holders'... These ‘WCB Grants’ are for £100 each, every month. The application process is just a short form on what the £100 would be used for and WCB Holders all vote - as a community - as to who wins the funds: Rehabbers voting to support Rehabbers to help wildlife.
The WCB has been very busy this Spring/Summer and we have launched some new initiatives…
WCB Revision Support - This is a new idea to support those Wildlife Rehabbers who want to become a WCB Holder but who are nervous of the Knowledge Assessments. We ran a very informal revision session with a Rehabber where we just sat on zoom and I asked them questions about birds from the 'BSAVA Manual', Les Stocker's 'Practical Wildlife Care' and Secret World's 'An Introduction To Wildlife Rescue, Rehabilitation & Release', that I had open on the desk in front of me. It helped to flag up areas of strength and weakness and the Rehabber felt a lot more confident by the end. I then asked a Vet Nurse how she revised for her exams and she told me about the multiple choice revision options that were available - here's some examples - so I am looking at creating lots of multiple choice question revision blog posts (made up from info in the aforementioned books) so that Rehabbers can use them to revise and get used to going through multiple choice questions on the care of their species, which is what the WCB KA entails. [More on this soon and please get in touch with any thoughts/advice.]
Wildlife Carers Journal - The point of this online ‘Wildlife Care Journal’ was purely to create a universal, public & shared platform for UK Wildlife Rescuers / Rehabilitators to specifically publish case studies, that they have found unusual and/or interesting, to play a part in growing general knowledge and experience within the Wildlife Rescue community and to also take advantage of a space that recognises Wildlife Rehabbers for the emergency care professionals that you are.
Wild Affinity Network - This is a new (and recently announced) idea to bring together research and practice towards improved wellbeing for all within wildlife care... It involves the launch of a new hub to unite Wildlife Rehabbers and Researchers, to enable improved wellbeing for all within wildlife care.
WCB Grants for WCB Holders - This was an idea that had been running through my mind for a long time and we decided to give it a go (a trial run, for one year). It came about because... I have donated personally - or offered my own airbnb home as a raffle prize - to quite a few WCB Holders in the past, to support them in their efforts. I did it just because I wanted to support the hands on work that was being done. I've been thinking about a WCB grant scheme for a while, as a way to provide more regular support. It's not an amount that's going to make it worth becoming a WCB Holder just to access it - it's only £100 every month, for one WCB Holder to claim, each time - but I hope that it can support our Badge Holders in a small way with Vets bills, tests, stuff like flyers or posters for fundraising events etc: anything really.
FROM OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2024, WE HAVE…
We have been working with more WCB Holders who are organising their annual 2024 renewals for their WCB Badges (confirming their Veterinary Visit Reports of their premises and creating & sending them their renewal certificates). Renewals involve: letting us know what CPD they have done over the last year, having a veterinary visit of their premises & letting us know about any new fosterers they may have (their premises need approving too, through pictures).
One of the renewals of a WCB Holder - a wonderful Hedgehog Rescue who are on their 3rd renewal - prompted this blog post, a call to action: https://www.wildlifecarebadge.com/post/why-wait-for-others-to-act-especially-based-on-current-events
We have been running WCB Knowledge Assessments & sending out certificates.
We have been organising & running one to one video calls with WCB Holders to help keep on top of their ‘accountability’ (proving that they’re keeping records & drafting treatment plans for each wild patient, as well as working regularly with a Vet). These have proven very successful, not just at making it super easy for WCB Holders to show their paperwork and vet documents in a way that only takes around 10 minutes every quarter but we have also found much closer relationships building with WCB Holders through these video calls and some new ideas being put forward through them, to further the WCB.
We organised a ‘Virtual Veterinary Visit’ for a WCB Holder. A RVN, who has supported the WCB a lot over the years, stepped in to help a WCB Holder by doing an extensive video call with them, to look around their premies. (This WCB Holder’s own Vet Practice were too busy to visit their premises in the necessary time frame, in order to fill in the WCB Checklist Report that we required for the renewal). The kindness of the RVN - who did it for free - allowed the WCB Holder to keep on top with their WCB renewal without too much trouble and it was really appreciated.
We have accepted one new WCB Holder application (a potential new Hedgehog Rescue WCB Holder).
Up to 10hrs was focused during October/November on a new WCB Challenge (one we hadn’t experienced before)… We were requested to look specifically at how to enable local communities of Wildlife Rescues to not only prove their practices through the WCB but also to trust & support one another more. To meet this challenge, I was lucky enough to chat to a Wildlife Vet for an hour on zoom, who gave me a great many ideas that I was able to share with WCB Holders: it became a template on how to ‘boost/celebrate’ one another.
We have started to collect Case Studies/Articles for our first publication - due out in January - of the Wildlife Care Journal.
3 WCB Grants have been issued over October/November/December.
The WCB launched 2 bits of research: ‘Respecting & Enabling The Wildness & Autonomy Of Wildlife Patients.’ AND ‘How Do You Use Technology For The Well Being Of Wildlife Pre-Rehab, During Rehab & Post Release?’ These bits of research are to collate advice & info from high welfare, experienced Wildlife Carers, especially to benefit those who are perhaps less experienced.
The same very large animal welfare organisation - as earlier in the year - in the UK has been communicating back and forth with the WCB to use some of our policies & documents to help Vet Practices to help wildlife, on top of the Vet Wildlife Support Package. A number of emails have passed back and forth and a day’s worth of admin was committed to sending over the info and the documents that they wanted to use. (Hopefully I'll be able to share more on this soon).
We looked more into understanding Hedgehog rehab/release legislation, on the request of a WCB Holder. After a number of emails back and forth with an expert, the question that the WCB Holder had was answered.
One of our lovely WCB Holders, Hedgepigs (Deborah Korn) came up with the idea of providing WCB Badge Stickers for WCB Holders to have in their Rescue Windows. She paid for them herself and they were sent out to WCB Holders. Thank you Deborah!
[On another note: we had a plan to hold a 'getting to know the WCB' open meeting this November but potential new WCB Holders and all of the WCB Holder renewals have kept us very busy so we are scheduling it for January 2025, to start off the new year in style. Equally, we had some 'WCB Webinar' plans for 2024 that couldn't go ahead because of a reshuffle of priorities but we have new WCB Webinars lined up to be announced in January 2025 now, which we're really excited about. Watch this space....]
Thank you, Alana (one of the WCB Co-Developers).
