What you can do to assist sick, injured or orphaned wildlife
Only licensed wildlife carers should attempt to care for any sick, injured, or orphaned wildlife. In NSW you must be trained by a licensed wildlife group, giving you authorisation under the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.
It is against the law for untrained people to care for wildlife.
If you find wildlife in distress, please contact FAWNA on the rescue line number (02) 6581 4141, or take the animal to a Vet.
Helping wildlife in emergencies
https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/topics/animals-and-plants/native-animals/helping-wildlife-in-emergencies
Helping wildlife during floods
https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/topics/animals-and-plants/native-animals/helping-wildlife-in-emergencies/helping-wildlife-during-floods
Most Veterinary Surgeons very kindly examine and treat all Australian Wildlife for free. A list of vets that support FAWNA in our licensed area can be found on the VETS link above or follow this link. There will be no charge to you. FAWNA owes a huge debt of thanks to the vets in this region for all of the support that you have given us over the many years.
Cover it with a towel or blanket to minimise stress and firmly but gently place it in a cardboard box, or natural fibre bag if available.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Please check that the bag you are using doesn’t have any loose threads hanging off on the inside as small legs and paws can get tied up in them and could cause the loss of circulation to that limb and stop the animal from being released back into the wild.
Try to make it as comfortable as possible.
Keep it in a warm and quiet place away from domestic pets and children and resist the temptation to peek at it.
Then call the FAWNA Duty Officer on (02) 6581 4141 who will advise the best course of immediate action.
Other Useful Wildlife Rescue Pointers
- Do not attempt to feed or water the animal unless advised to do so. Unnecessary handling at this stage can cause more harm than good.
- Some animals require particular handling if they need to be rescued. Bats and flying foxes, venomous reptiles, raptors (birds of prey) have special handling requirements and should not be handled by untrained people.
- If safe for you to do so, check the pouches of marsupials killed on the road as there may be a live joey or joeys inside. Do not use force to remove a joey from the teat but collect mother and young for later separation.
- If you cannot handle the animal, record your odometer reading to a known point so the exact location can be given to the FAWNA duty officer.
- If delivering the animal to a vet or anyone else always leave the encounter location details when you drop it off. This will allow the animal to be relocated in its home territory after rehabilitation.
- For baby birds, look around to see if you can identify a likely parent still in the vicinity.
Other useful information can be found on this PDF guide from Sydney Wildlife. Download PDF (998kb)