Membership

 

Hunter Wildlife Rescue is run entirely by dedicated volunteers. We welcome volunteers from all walks and stages of life to fill all kinds of roles within our organisation. Care is generally provisioned in our own homes. Whatever your living, working or family situation is – there is an opportunity for you to assist!

 

To become a member:

1. Fill out the membership application form. Your form will be automatically sent to the membership officer & the treasurer when you press submit.
2. You will then need to deposit your membership fees into the bank account below, either by bank transfer or money order. Please use your surname as a reference when paying electronically (e.g. Smith/membership).
3. Renewal of membership and acceptance of applications from new members will be valid once the Membership Application Form and fee have been received and approved by the Management Committee.

Online

BSB 032 524 Account No 142209

Account Name: Native Animal Trust Fund

Reference: Please use your surname as the reference.

OR

Postal

Please send your money order made payable to

Account Name: Native Animal trust Fund

Mail to: The Membership Officer, PO Box 17, Shortland NSW 2307

 

Once these steps are completed, you will receive correspondence from our membership officer to inform you of when the next “New Member’s Course” will occur. These courses run regularly and serves as an “induction” of sorts into the roles available to you, basic transport guidelines, safety and procedures within Hunter Wildlife Rescue.

Upon completion of your introductory course, you will be introduced to a coordinator in your area who will help you establish yourself in a role of your choosing. You will be connected with the relevant species coordinators based on your interests and a variety of other personal factors.

Some roles available within Hunter Wildlife Rescue include:

Transporting

Transporters are key to ensuring positive welfare outcomes for the wildlife that comes into our care. Transporters may transfer injured wildlife requiring rehabilitation from the local vets to carers, or between carers. This is a huge relief to our carers who may simply have no time to make these trips!

Transporters may also have the opportunity to releasing rehabilitated wildlife back into the wild. What’s more rewarding than that?

Rescuing

Rescuing injured, sick, orphaned or distressed wildlife is not for the faint of heart. Our incredible rescuers have access to a mobile app by which “jobs” come in for them to accept according to their level of confidence, availability and proximity to the case.

Once you become an active member within our group, you will be permitted to perform basic rescues including birds, juvenile possums, etc.

In order to perform rescues with more dangerous animals such as monitors and macropods (kangaroos, wallabies), you will need to complete intensive 1-on-1 training with the relevant species coordinator before being permitted to accept these jobs.

Rescue is extremely rewarding and an awesome way to meet other members and establish a network that will support you throughout your membership with us.

Rehabilitation & Care

We are always in need of carers to facilitate the rehabilitation of sick, injured and orphaned wildlife.

Care can take many forms! It is often thought that you need acres of space and a free schedule to care for wildlife. While some of our carers are retired or not currently working, many are full or part time employees and business owners.

If you are interested in care, it’s a good idea to seek out the advice of your area coordinator and/or relevant species coordinator to discuss which species/life stage may be suitable for you to care for.

For example, someone with a young family may not be able to provide around the clock care to a baby possum but is able to have a pre-release aviary on their property.

Disaster Support

Unfortunately, the incidence of natural disasters in Australia is flagged to increase into the future. In these events, we call on specially trained members to provide disaster relief in fires, heat waves, flood and storms.

Activities you may undertake as a member of the disaster support team include:

– “black walks” with support of the RFS to identify injured fauna following wildfire

– maintaining feed stations in burnt out areas

– flood rescue (usually in support of the SES)

– emergency triage (such as in the case of a severe heat wave)

Other Support

If you had a more “hands-off” approach in mind, there are still a variety of important roles available, including:

• sewing/knitting pouches, liners or wraps for orphaned animals
• making possum & bird boxes
• farming live foods – crickets, meal worms
• fundraising
• education & public awareness
• IT support
• financial support

& so many more!

Fees  : For New Membership

New Membership Type	Cost
Single adult	$55.00
Family	$90.00