Does anyone know how to get started training to be an animal rehab?

[Love my Critters!]

I was wondering how someone goes about becoming a licensed wildlife rehabilitator. Can anyone give me any info?

Thanks!

 

[ranchhand]

Call your state DNR - (Dept. of Natural Resources), or check online. They will usually have links to various organizations that are licensed. Training is actually pretty easy, it's a lot of logic, common sense and a healthy dash of intuition.

Best of luck to you, it's very rewarding and frustrating at the same time. Be aware that most rehabbers do not get paid, and they also foot the bill for their rescues. You have to really love doing it.

 

[Love my Critters!]

Thanks for the info. I was a vet tech for 9 years, and grew up on a farm. I've "rehabbed" lots of critters, I already do it so I was wanting to become "licensed" so it's legal. When I worked at the vet, I would get to work at 7am and there would be boxes of all kinds of baby animals or hurt animal left there for us to deal with. Me, being the sucker that I am, always took everything home and raised it then rehomed it. I would also like to look into a falconer's license, because I have found many injured hawks and the only one that could take them here has stopped due to her age and health. I remember the last one I found was going to be flown to a bigger city to be euthanized because the vet that normally takes them was due to have a baby and didn't have time.

 

[KristyHall]

Love my Critters! :

Thanks for the info. I was a vet tech for 9 years, and grew up on a farm. I've "rehabbed" lots of critters, I already do it so I was wanting to become "licensed" so it's legal. When I worked at the vet, I would get to work at 7am and there would be boxes of all kinds of baby animals or hurt animal left there for us to deal with. Me, being the sucker that I am, always took everything home and raised it then rehomed it. I would also like to look into a falconer's license, because I have found many injured hawks and the only one that could take them here has stopped due to her age and health. I remember the last one I found was going to be flown to a bigger city to be euthanized because the vet that normally takes them was due to have a baby and didn't have time.

depending on the state you're in, getting a falconer's license can be tough. in some places it's easier to get a pet tiger than it is to rehab a bird of prey. here in Alabama hundreds of birds of prey ( maybe thousands) get put down because there is not enough people who meet the qualifications to rehab birds, and it's hard to get someone willing to train you. Even harder to get someone to train you as a falconer around here. yet I run into professional BOP rehabbers who complain about being overwhelmed *sighs*

anyhow, it can be frustrating but keep trying, ignore the politics, don't let the know it alls pull you down, and don't let the loss of animals discourage you, learn from it. also know when your overwhelmed. It is easy to be over run by animals, so be sure you are capable of turning away animals when you're at your limit of taking care for the animals you have. That is really hard to do , but many rehabbers cross that line from rehabber to hoarder. (all animal hoarders start out with the best of intentions)

be sure to network. it pays to have a god support system of other people in your area who rescue animals, find what animals you're good at working with, most rehabbers have a specialty. do not be afraid to ask for help and advice, and ask from multiple sources. I have learned from experience you can get bad advice, so make sure to ask more than one person. even the best rehabber, vet, animal control officer can make mistakes.

most of all have fun. if you feel yourself burning out take a step back for a while, and feel free to vent. we loose the most rehabbers to burn out. there are several rehabbers on this forum so rant away.​

 

[Love my Critters!]

Thank you so much Kristy for all your help and words of wisdom, I really appreciate it. I'm going to look into this but I don't have any licensed rehab facilities anywhere near by. I live in southeast New Mexico and the closest one I can find online through the game and fish is 4 hours away. In order to get "training" you have to become a member and attend meetings and I can't do that where I live.

 

[KristyHall]

Love my Critters! :

Thank you so much Kristy for all your help and words of wisdom, I really appreciate it. I'm going to look into this but I don't have any licensed rehab facilities anywhere near by. I live in southeast New Mexico and the closest one I can find online through the game and fish is 4 hours away. In order to get "training" you have to become a member and attend meetings and I can't do that where I live.

see if there are any volunteer groups. you can type in your local town, area, or zip code in the search engine and add wildlife rehabilitator or wildlife rehabilitation, and you should get some sort of hit on local groups that could help you.​