RSPCA East Winch Wildlife Centre

General information

Our four wildlife centres employ 68 staff with a range of skills including animal care, veterinary and ecological expertise, maintenance and administration. They specialise in the treatment, release and post-release monitoring of a wide variety of wildlife casualties – together they handle over 16,000 animals a year!

Working closely with the wildlife centres are our HQ-based wildlife team with specialist knowledge and expertise in a range of scientific, animal welfare and ethical issues. Between us we hold qualifications in biology, environmental studies, animal behaviour, ecology, zoology and administration. We provide information for both internal and external policy makers, which often involves clearly communicating complex scientific facts and arguments. The department is widely recognised and respected, both nationally and internationally, by the public as well as government and non-governmental organisations.

As you might expect, it’s a huge challenge to try to improve the welfare of such a large number of animals and species! We work in many different ways to encourage change, using scientific information and practical evidence to support our arguments.

Here’s a little look at some of the wildlife work done by the RSPCA:

• Raise awareness of wild animal welfare issues and provide information and advice.
• Work with, and try to influence, those who make important policy decisions about wild animal welfare.
• Rescue and rehabilitate abandoned and injured wild animals at our wildlife centres and conduct research to constantly improve our level of care.
• Develop and update detailed RSPCA protocols for the best possible rehabilitation practices of all species cared for.
• Teach trainee inspectors wildlife-related aspects of work, including identification, legislation and handling.
• Develop free educational resources about wild animal welfare, aiming to help teachers and students examine and debate subjects.
• Support research into relevant welfare issues such as alternatives to the control of moles or deer vehicle collisions.
• Work internationally with both governments and non-governmental organisations, such as providing training overseas on the rehabilitation of oiled birds and the identification of freshwater turtles.