Wildlife Rehabilitation Ireland

Wildlife Rehabilitation Ireland (WRI) is a registered charity and represents 30+ wildlife rehabilitation centres/individuals in communities throughout Ireland. Their mission is to promote wildlife rehabilitation and improve wildlife welfare and conservation in Ireland. By working with all stakeholders, they improve rehabilitation and implement sustainable wildlife-friendly policies for their communities. WRI also advances the protection of wild animals and their habitats through education, advocacy and outreach.

Through Good Causes funding, National Lottery players supported the vital voluntary rehabilitators nationwide who help Irish wildlife such as pine martens, hedgehogs, seals, swans, bats and foxes. As well as directly helping the rehabilitators, Good Causes funding enabled the WRI team strategically to work towards the improvement of Ireland’s ad-hoc wildlife rehabilitation system as wells as establish licensing and standards of care.

WRI’s work has never been more important than throughout 2020, when more people have been spending time outdoors, resulting in double the volume of wildlife needing rehabilitation care, which led to twice as many calls about injured or orphaned wildlife. The work Wildlife Rehabilitation Ireland do is something this and future generations will benefit from, and they are fully-deserved winners of this year’s Good Causes Heritage Award.