Wildlife Rehabilitation & Release

Serving the community of orphaned and injured wildlife, the community of citizens bringing animals to our attention, and the community of wildlife rehabilitators seeking education and support.

Our mission statement above shows how we hold community at the center of all our work. Permitted, independent wildlife rehabilitators continue to provide excellent care for injured and orphaned wild animals all across the state out of their own homes; often giving not only their time, but their own personal finances. They make a huge sacrifice to care for these wild neighbors of ours. WRR is there to care for them through education; formula reimbursement; collecting and distributing needed supplies; financial assistance; and networking.

The care of our wild neighbors is something WRR and the rehabilitation community is passionate about.  That is why growing, supporting, and developing the wildlife rehabilitation community is vitally important to your communities all across Minnesota. So when an animal in your area needs help, a skilled permitted wildlife rehabilitator is there to care for them; and the Rescue Team is there to assist with capturing challenging animals or situations!

So far in 2024:

• Wildlife Rescue Team
  • Wildlife Rescue Team has responded to over 1600 phone calls in 2024; providing rescue team deployment, referrals, and guidance! Our team of trained and equipped volunteers respond to wildlife in need of advanced rescue coordination and personnel. The Rescue Team has safely rescued loons, pelicans, foxes, raccoons, hawks, owls, squirrels, rabbits, opossums, beaver, bobcats, ducks/geese and more! The Team also has provided guidance numerous members of the public on how to safely capture or transport an animal themselves, and connected many others with permitted wildlife rehabilitators specializing in the species needing care. We've also borrowed out live traps for the public to use to trap an injured or sick animal. The Wildlife Rescue Team has invaluably changed the lives of the animals they have captured in communities all across Minnesota. See rescue pictures below check the other tab above for some really amazing stories of the work the Rescue Team performs!
• Rehabilitator Training
  • Spring Training continued as a virtual format in March and people from all over Minnesota and the country attended. This annual training has changing topics to meet the needs of rehabilitators and volunteers. This year we also hosted a hands-on training providing attendees to develop critical skills to treat and handle wildlife. Every year we focus on animal care, welfare, new/emerging diseases, and more!
  • Basic Rehabilitation Education Workshop (BREW) was hosted near Lanesboro, MN in September. We had attendees from all over Minnesota! This training is aimed at beginners and is crucial to recruiting and educating more community-based rehabilitators all across the region. Each year we change the location of BREW to ensure we're offering learning opportunities to various communities. We are dedicated to bringing quality trainings to diverse areas of Minnesota!
  • Online Learning Modules: We continue to grow and expand our online learning modules to reduce the barriers to accessing quality wildlife rehabilitation education in Minnesota and beyond. These modules are directed towards both beginner and experienced wildlife rehabilitators, volunteers, and community members; and are free to WRR members.
• Rehabilitator Support Programs
  • Rehabilitator Support Program reduces the financial burden for rehabilitators to access professional veterinary care and to purchase specialty supplies and caging. The average volunteer rehabilitator spends several thousands of dollars of their own personal finances to provide care for wildlife on an annual basis. WRR is dedicated to offsetting the financial burden of these selfless volunteers.
  •  Formula Reimbursement Program helps supply the specialized formulas these amazing volunteers use to provide adequate nutrition to a diverse number of species.
  • Donated supplies are solicited, gathered, and distributed to rehabilitators all across Minnesota. WRR is able to assist with the often timely legwork of seeking specialty caging/equipment and handling pick-up, storage and distribution. Rehabilitators care for animals entirely out of their own finances so procuring supplies can greatly assist reducing costs associated with wildlife rehabilitation.

Please donate to support wildlife rehabilitation in your community!