Wildlife rehabilitation hospitals treat tens of thousands of injured and sick wild animals annually, working to standard protocols to maximise survival and return animals to the wild.
Wildlife rehabilitation occupies a challenging middle ground between immediate animal welfare and longer-term outcomes. Treating a wild animal involves causing short-term stress and discomfort — handling, veterinary procedures, captive housing — in the service of long-term welfare benefit through recovery and release. This trade-off requires that rehabilitation centres maintain rigorous protocols to minimise the time animals spend in care, ensure that only animals with realistic survival prospects are treated, and prepare animals effectively for release. The goal is not to provide comfortable captivity but to return wild animals to wild lives.