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| Home>Volunteers>About Rehabilitation and the WRL |
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About Rehabilitation and the WRL Wildlife rehabilitators are volunteers who are licensed by the Commonwealth of Virginia to rehabilitate injured and orphaned wildlife. They must pay the expenses themselves. If you are interested in becoming a wildlife rehabilitator, see below. The Wildlife Rescue League supports rehabilitation by providing basic supplies, recruiting transporters who will deliver injured and orphaned wildlife to the rehabilitators when necessary, and running the wildlife hotline. The Wildlife Rescue League can use your help. We provide training and reference materials for volunteers. Becoming a Wildlife Rehabilitator
In Virginia, most wildlife rehabilitators work out of their own homes. They must be licensed by the Commonwealth of Virginia to rehabilitate mammals and/or birds and additionally by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to rehabilitate birds. Rehabilitators are not supported by public funding and may not charge for their services. In order to become a rehabilitator, you must meet three requirements: 1) After filing an application for a permit, have a home inspection of your caging and facilities and a screening interview by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. The application and inspection may be arranged by calling VDGIF at (804) 367-1076. 2) Serve a two-year apprenticeship with an experienced sponsor rehabilitator who can teach you the specific species you are interested in rehabilitating. During this two year period you may rehabilitate healthy orphaned animals in your own home. 3) Each year that you have a permit, you must have six hours of continuing education in wildlife rehabilitation or related topics. (This education is generally available locally through the Wildlife Rescue League, the Wildlife Center of Virginia, and other sources.) In addition, if you are interested in working with mammals at higher risk for rabies, you are required to have rabies pre-exposure shots. An article from WRL's Quarterly Newsletter, Rescue Report, on the costs of being rehabilitator is available on line. If you have questions about becoming a rehabilitator, taking rehabilitation training, assistance in finding a sponsor, or caging requirements for rehabilitated wildlife, please call us for assistance, 703 391-8625, or email us at wrl@wildliferescueleague.org .  A successful rehabilitation and release! This adult female pileated woodpecker is returned to the woods where she was found near Clifton, Virginia after two weeks of care by a licensed wildlife rehabilitator. Our hotline volunteers assist the public with finding the nearest rehabilitator to them, as well as answering wildlife questions. We attempt to reduce the number of phone calls rehabilitators must handle while serving the public and the wildlife in need. Hotline volunteers work from their own homes, calling into a voice messaging system and returning the public’s calls. We ask that they work a minimum of two 3 to 3 ½ hour shifts a month. The hotline operates from 8 AM to 9 PM, seven days a week, during peak season (late spring and summer), and 8 AM to sunset the rest of the year. Although we need volunteers for all shifts, there is a particular need for volunteers during the Monday-Friday daytime shifts. If you would like to volunteer for the hotline, please complete our volunteer questionnaire. Wildlife transporters carry sick and injured animals to a rehabilitator or vet at the request of the hotline or the receiving rehabilitator. They designate what hours they are available, and the general areas they will drive. Because the need for transporters fluctuates, we do not ask transporters to be on call. Instead, when we need a transporter we call until we find one available. When the transporter picks up the animal, it should already be contained for transport. The transporter is not expected to rescue the animal, although that is an important volunteer opportunity itself. If you would like to volunteer as a wildlife transporter, please complete our volunteer questionnaire.
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