We are now accepting VOLUNTEER applications for 2020 Baby Season.
Due to the Coronavirus concerns, we have canceled all in-person training classes for 2020. We will offer online classes instead. We are working to put together a comprehensive set of classes for online use as quickly as possible. We still need new volunteers! Coronavirus will not stop sick, injured and orphaned animals from coming in and as long as animals still need help, we’ll still be here to help them. We have adapted some of our procedures to keep staff safe during this time, but otherwise, it’s still business as usual because most of us work from home anyway.
If you’re quarantined, or just on lockdown right now, maybe it’s the perfect time to learn more about native wildlife, and become part of a great team of animal lovers who rescue, rehab, and re-release sick, injured and orphaned wildlife. If you would like to complete our online training, please fill out the application below to receive an invite.
Or continue reading to learn more about who we are, what we do, and how you can help.
Are you a true animal lover at heart?? Do you love all species of animals, even the ones that might not be as cute and cuddly as others?? When you are driving do you notice every animal on the side of the road to the point that it upsets you? Are you the person that all of your friends call when they find a bunny nest in their backyard, an injured squirrel, or a random critter needs help? If you answered yes to any of those questions, you might just be ONE OF US!
With the help of our vast network of rehabilitators, veterinarians, veterinary technicians, emergency medical technicians, and critical care rescue specialists, we successfully assist, rescue, rehabilitate and re-release over 1000 native wild animals each year. When wildlife is found sick, injured, or orphaned throughout Missouri and Illinois, we are here to help- 24/7/365. Often, we are called as the last or only option that is willing to try to sustain these animal’s lives. We do not believe that some animals are too small or insignificant to justify heroic efforts to save them. To us, every life matters, no matter how large or small. Animal welfare is not a popularity contest or beauty pageant. When we say EVERY life matters – we mean it. From skunk to opossum, moles to armadillos, and mouse to snake, we do our best to give these animals the best possible chance in life whenever possible. In cases where the extension of life will only lead to immense suffering, we take comfort in knowing that we have the ability to offer a humane, peaceful end to that suffering. The work we do here is our gift back to Mother Nature, and a step toward making this world a place that we can be happy to live within. We feel enormously blessed every day just to be granted the opportunity to play a small part in these precious wild lives. Too many people choose to view these animals as worthless and expendable, even referring to them as nothing more than ‘nuisance wildlife’ and we take offense! If you are anything like US, we know that you will share in some of these feelings. Volunteering your time with the Wildlife Hotline will not only be an opportunity that you will cherish, but it will become part of you in ways you cannot yet imagine. In the past, you may have been called too sensitive, or crazy, or worse for daring to care about something that your own friends, family, and neighbors refer to as filthy, and diseased, but you can officially put all of that in the past now.
You are one of us.
Welcome Home.
We are always in need of more volunteers, year-round. Our busiest time of year is from March through August when baby bunnies, squirrels, raccoons, foxes, skunks, beavers, otters, bats, coyotes, opossums, birds, owls, hawks, and many other species arrive in need of help after being found all alone and orphaned in the world. They arrive dehydrated, hungry, cold, dirty and often fading fast. We meet these demands with expert veterinary care, medications, vaccines, specialty formulas designed on a species-by-species basis to meet exact nutritional needs, and compassion for every life we hold in our hands. We aren’t rehabbers that simply let nature take its course. We use veterinary medicine, biology, zoology, and modern science to meet animals’ needs and save lives, every single day.
We receive $0 in state or federal funding to help us provide the essential services we offer to the public. Because of this extremely limited funding, it is imperative that we keep our operational and administrative costs very low. The staff here at the Wildlife Hotline consists ENTIRELY of selflessly dedicated, tireless volunteers, with no salaries to cut into our meager private funding. This allows us to devote 100% of donations directly to our patient’s care.
We are in need of volunteers for the following positions:
Hotline Core Group: This is the most important job here. It involves answering wildlife calls via our 24-hour hotline. This work can be done from the comfort of your home and is absolutely essential for the public to find help fast when an animal is in crisis. Hotline phone work is the best first step if you are interested in becoming a licensed rehabilitator on your own in the future. This is normally the first position that a new volunteer will have. You will learn A LOT in the Core Group. Every volunteer, new or not, is REQUIRED to help on the phones for 15 hours or more each week if at ALL possible. Talking to the public about wildlife, and fielding incoming calls is a crucial step in the process of wildlife rehab. Animals don’t bring themselves in. Every saved life starts with a phone call.
H.A.R.T.- (Hotline Animal Rescue Team): This work is done within your home and/or work area. You do NOT have to reside in St. Louis area for this position. Sick, injured and orphaned animals in need of rescue are called into our hotline and the HART team is responsible for responding to these calls and rescuing animals in need, providing critical care for incoming animals, and transportation to the closest licensed person or facility that is best suited for that particular species’ needs. We take your home and work zip codes and load them into our help locator here on the site. (Only we can see it – not the public) Then when we get a call where an animal has to be picked up or rescued, we search the locator for who might be close and able to help. If you are close by, we’ll call or text you to ask if you are available to help. HART staff must have a dog/cat crate, some basic medical supplies that we will provide, towels or other linens, and heavy gloves. Due to the limited budget on our end, it’s helpful when new volunteers have their own crates/carriers, and basic rescue supplies, but we can help with some basic supplies if needed.
‘Foster’ Wild Mom: This position is responsible for providing in-home care for animals that are sick/injured/orphaned, time and encouragement to develop into the wild monsters that they are meant to be. Some Wild Mom’s specialize in a particular species that they enjoy most, or are best suited to accommodate. Others accept many different types of species. This work requires at least two year’s (preferably 3) apprentice experience with a licensed rehabber and must be approved by MO Dept. of Conservation or IL Dept. of Natural Resources.
Animal Care Assistants: This position is specifically working with one of our existing permit holders. We currently have permit holders in Wildwood, Florissant, Springfield, and Oak Grove, MO, as well as Centralia and Benton, IL. Some applicants may not be near a permit holder but may wish to travel to a permitted site 2x a month to gain hands-on experience anyway. You would be helping to feed babies, clean cages, help with medical treatments, update charts, help with new admits, and assist with dishes/laundry/general cleanup of facilities. This job is for able-bodied people who don’t mind putting together cages, helping us move cages around when needed, and getting dirty. Must not be bothered by blood, poop, and general mess of raising baby animals. Hands-on experience is essential before taking care of wildlife at home on your own. Many of our applicants have past experience with dogs, cats, snakes, turtles, and even exotic animals, but wildlife rehab is a completely different skill set. We have the utmost respect for applicants with previous animal experience, especially vet techs, and veterinarians, and we will treat you with respect. However, we expect you to respect our experience as well and be willing to learn the methods and protocols we have in place to ensure the proper growth and care of wildlife species.
If any of these positions interest you, apply now! We hold training classes in the winter every year. However, we cannot host training sessions between March and September. Baby season is too
busy at that point and it just cannot be done. Without this training, you are still welcome to apply and at least allow us to add your name to our locator to do rescues/transport in your area. If we need help near you, we will call you and walk you through picking up a sick, injured, or orphaned animal. We’ll go easy on you! It just depends on your level of comfort with the work, and how available you are when the phone rings.
Click Here to Submit A Volunteer Application
THANK YOU!!!