Have you found an injured wild animal?

If you come across an injured, sick, or orphaned wild animal in Ontario, the first and most important rule is not to remove it from its habitat or handle it yourself — the animal may not actually need help, and well-meaning intervention can sometimes do more harm than good. This often happens with baby birds during the Spring nesting season.

Remember to keep a safe distance, avoid direct contact, and don’t try to feed or “rescue” the animal on your own. Instead, contact a licensed wildlife custodian — someone officially authorized by the province to rehabilitate wildlife — who can assess the situation over the phone and advise on next steps; you can find one through the provincial list of authorized wildlife rehabilitators or the Ontario Wildlife Rescue directory, which lets you search by species and location. Ontario law generally prohibits people from keeping wildlife, but you’re permitted to temporarily hold a sick, injured, or young animal for up to 24 hours if you’re actively transporting it to a wildlife custodian or veterinarian — so time matters once you’ve made contact.

Please note that each wildlife rehabilitator is licensed for different types of wildlife. Pay attention to the three letter code, for example, RVS stands for Rabies Vector Species meaning they can rehabilitate bats, skunks, raccoons or foxes.

Other things to consider:

The demand is overwhelming. Like our own hospital emergency room, it’s hectic keeping track of the care of multiple patients, both big and small. This is why these facilities rely on the generosity of volunteers who can be trained and assist in daily duties. Tasks such as cleaning up poop (lots of it), doing laundry and answering your phone call. Please be polite and courteous while on the phone! If by chance your call isn’t answered, leave a voicemail message so they can call you back as soon as they can free their busy hands.

These life-saving professionals often aren’t in this for the money. Most are set up as not-for-profits or charities which makes it easier to accept donations (hint, hint). They do this important work because they care and share a passion to help local wildlife. There is typically no government funding for their services which means they are putting out the costs to help your injured animal.

The Ontario SPCA does not have a mandate to help local wildlife. They can only assist with domestic pets; dogs or cats. If you call your local SPCA branch, they will likely refer you to the nearest licensed custodian/rehabilitator.