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New article on sponsoring new rehabilitators! Click to download.
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Wildlife Rehabilitator Recruiting Information
The publications listed below are in portable document format (pdf) and are available via download or online viewing, depending on the configuration of your browser. You will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader to open these files. If you do not have this free software, click on the button below to download it.
New Wildlife Rehabilitation Recruiting Tools
As experienced rehabilitators know, many people say they want to become a wildlife rehabilitator. It is important to provide them basic information, but this can be time-consuming, especially during busy season. The recruiting brochure, "Learn About Wildlife Rehabilitation" is a quick and easy way to provide useful basic information and save the rehabilitator time. The recruiting booklet, "Wildlife Rehabilitation: Is It For You?" provides considerably more information and can save even more time for the rehabilitator. The booklet was designed to provide a realistic balance of pros and cons in order to help possible recruits decide if they want to get involved in wildlife rehabilitation, and to what extent.
We suggest that before you download these tools, please download the article on Sponsoring New Rehabilitators (click here - pdf format).
Recruiting Brochure
The recruiting
The brochure provides a brief description of rehabilitation
activities, reasons more rehabilitators are needed, and some of the
realities. It explains that rehabilitation is not easy nor a hobby. It
describes ways new people can learn more. There is space on the back
of brochure for rehabilitators or rehabilitation
organizations to place their own contact information. 
brochure
may be distributed to those people who have initial interest in becoming a
wildlife rehabilitator. It may be handed to the
curious rescuer who delivers a wild animal. It can be distributed at public
events or educational programs to people curious about wildlife
rehabilitation. It can be mailed to people who call and request information.
Recruiting Booklet
The recruiting booklet is for those people who want
more information after reading the brochure. Previously, these are the people who would like to talk with the rehabilitator an
The booklet
provides more in-depth
information to help the
potential recruit decide if
they want to seriously
proceed with becoming a
wildlife rehabilitator. It
presents reasons that
rehabilitation is needed and
some benefits. It describes
rehabilitation facilities,
typical activities, and
requirements. Among the
requirements listed are
time, commitment, funding,
knowledge and skill, permits
or licenses, and a veterinarian.
The booklet offers some myths about wildlife
rehabilitation, such as "loving animals qualifies someone to be a rehabilitator" and "the government pays rehabilitators to care for wildlife". It suggests ways new people can become wildlife
rehabilitators and locate training opportunities. It describes realities, such as workload, costs, risks, and stresses and gives suggestions as to ways new people can manage
them. By the time the potential recruit schedules time to talk personally with the rehabilitator, the person is much more informed and asks better questions about
rehabilitation. Like the brochure, the booklet has an area for rehabilitators to place their own contact information.
Click on the booklet to either view or
download a copy. After reading the wildlife rehabilitation recruiting brochure and booklet, some people will
decide that becoming a wildlife rehabilitator is exactly what they want and can do. Others will decide they don't want to become wildlife rehabilitators, but may help wildlife or
animals in different ways. But that's the point. More rehabilitators are needed, but not everyone can and should become a wildlife rehabilitator. Hopefully these new documents
will help recruit new rehabilitators, redirect others who may not be a match, and save rehabilitators' time.
The recruiting brochure and booklet were developed by a diverse team of rehabilitators from around North America. The brochure is endorsed by the IWRC and NWRA. (Note:
Rehabilitators may quickly and easily customize the inset box on the back of the recruiting brochure and booklet by pasting in specific contact information. WildAgain
may also be available to customize the inset box on the brochure and booklet. Contact
d possibly have a facility tour.
Sample Apprentice Application Form
While many wildlife rehabilitation facilities use applications for their volunteers, the use of
applications has been less common with home-based rehabilitators who recruit and train new rehabilitators. The application reinforces that the rehabilitator takes the recruiting
process seriously. The types of questions should be professional and relate directly to rehabilitation. It does not need to be elaborate but can provide very useful information.
The application can also thank them for applying, mention an interview (by phone or in person) and explain that only a limited number of people will be accepted into the apprenticeship/training.
An application form should collect basic information about the candidate, such as name and contact information. It may ask the candidate's relevant education and experience,
special skills, time availability, space to keep wildlife separate from humans and domestic animals, finding funds to support rehabilitation activities, and interest in
rehabilitation. It may ask the applicant about feelings regarding other related subjects, such as use of veterinarians and euthanasia. Questions should be directly relevant and
not discriminate by age, gender, religion, and so forth.
Click here for an example of wildlife rehabilitation apprentice application.
The completed application should be reviewed to help decide if the candidate is one that you believe may become a responsible, permitted and effective rehabilitator. For
example, an application showing previous volunteer work with rabbit rescue and education about responsible pet care might be a stronger candidate than a person who
writes that she only wants to be involved sweet cuddly animals that won't bite or die. The application could show that the person wants to do home-based rehabilitation only on
weekends when she is not showing her pedigree dogs in competition. Or the application could show that the candidate sees rehabilitation animals as an inexpensive source of
pets for his young children. The application could reveal that the applicant wants to work with a species that the rehabilitator does not rehabilitate – which may result in a referral to
another rehabilitator.
The use of an application, such as the provided example, can help the applicant realize
that wildlife rehabilitation is a serious endeavor with many requirements. It can also provide the rehabilitator helpful information in deciding whether to accept the candidate
as a volunteer or apprentice rehabilitator, refer to another rehabilitator, or possibly suggest another type of volunteer activity.
For more information, see the article: "Recruiting: More Than a Brochure", by Casey and Bolton-Martin in the NWRA Quarterly, Winter, 2001. A workshop, entitled "Expanding
Our Team: Recruiting, Training, Sponsoring, and Retaining New Rehabilitators" is available for experienced rehabilitators.
Did you know that research indicates a 17% attrition rate among rehabilitators across the U.S.? That means that about 40% of the active rehabilitators have less than 5 years of experience.
The brochure and booklet have saved hundreds of hours in explaining the realities of wildlife rehabilitation to new people. We have found that after reading these materials, if a person is still interested, they turn out to be a more serious candidate as a new rehabilitator.
The brochure and booklet can also be customized very easily to reflect your local contact information. Let us know if you would like this, as we provide this as free service to individual rehabilitators, organizations and state agencies.
Copyright 2002-2006. © WildAgain Wildlife Rehabilitation, Inc. All Rights Reserved unless otherwise stated.