Volunteer
Volunteer at the Wildlife Center
Volunteering at the Wildlife Center is an exciting experience. The Wildlife Center provides a rich educational experience. Volunteers will have the opportunity to work with 7000 animal patients a year consisting of 250 species of mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. The sheer diversity and quantity of wildlife species in residence at the Wildlife Center at the height of baby season ensures that even the experienced rehabber will see new and interesting cases. Caring for so many of a given species at the same time also quickly teaches what should be considered normal behavior and what signals a problem.
You must attend an Orientation lecture and be willing to work under the close direction of a permitted rehabber. There are no minimum requirements, however it is preferred that volunteers be willing to work several 2, 4 or 6 hour shifts each month.
New volunteers must attend an Orientation lecture (offered the second Saturday of each month) and work in conjunction with a permitted mentor. The age limit to work independently is 16, however, 14 and 15 year olds can volunteer if a parent volunteers at the same time. No Orientation lectures are given in December. Contact the Wildlife Center at 713-861-WILD (9453) or e-mail at Volunteer@WRandE.org with questions or comments.
Expect to begin working with older orphans; feeding (some baby birds require feeding every 30 minutes), prepare specialized individual diets, house-keeping and cage cleaning duties. You do not need to be permitted (or sub-permitted) by Texas Parks and Wildlife or U. S. Fish and Wildlife to work at the Wildlife Center.
Until the electronic volunteer sign-up sheets are up and running, e-mail volunteer@wrande.org with your contact information (name, address, phone number and e-mail address). Your $25 fee can be paid in person or electronically by going to the Donate tab and clicking on Electronic Donate.
Click here for a snail-mail form that you can print and mail to the Wildlife Center
For an electronic volunteer sign-up sheet, coming soon.
Volunteer your expertise
Research and writing newsletter articles, web content and “Blasts”. Building and maintaining databases. Using e-tools to keep in contact. Data entry. Transcription of old articles into electronic format. Correspondence. Cultivating sponsors and donors of supplies. Organizers for fund raising events. Construction contractor, plumber, electrician or carpentry experience.
Grant writing; there are opportunities that we are missing. Successful grant writing requires talent, experience and time.
Volunteer to pickup or transfer wildlife
Not all wildlife can be cared for at the WR&E Wildlife Center and must be transferred to individual rehabbers or transferred from one rehabber to another. For example, we can intake and stabilize raccoons at the Wildlife Center. However, the facilities and physical requirements are so demanding that long term care and rehabilitation must occur at the home of a permitted rehabber.
Volunteer to pickup supplies
Many of our food sources require that we physically go pick it up. Frozen mice and rats for the raptors often require a round trip of several hours, frozen fish is local as are several stores that donate torn bags of food or kitty litter.
Locate release sites for wildlife on private property
We are always looking for suitable wildlife release sites. We utilize three methods of release. A “hard release” involves taking the animal to a suitable release site, releasing it and walking away. In our experience, healthy opossums are the only species that can be routinely hard released.
The other extreme is a “soft release” which involves care and caging at the release site for days or weeks before release. Once released, back up food is provided until the animal is self-sufficient. Wildlife can be released at an earlier age with true soft release techniques. Most of our releases are “semi-hard” which doesn’t require caging at the release site, but does require providing food on a daily basis until the animal has established food sources and honed hunting skills.
Help build on-site rehab cages or release cages
Birds, especially raptors must be contained in such a way that they can’t damage their feathers. Proper caging is species specific, but for many birds it requires a sturdy framework to which 1 inch by 2 inch slats are attached. It is very labor and material intensive. There are currently only three rehabbers with the necessary credentials, permits and the fifty to eighty foot flight cages necessary to rehabilitate the larger raptors.
