Wildlife rehabilitation centres play a vital role in rescuing and treating injured wild animals, but standards vary widely, and the welfare of animals in rehabilitation must be carefully managed.
Wildlife rehabilitation done well significantly improves the welfare of individual animals by treating injuries, addressing disease, and returning animals to their natural environment. Done poorly, it prolongs suffering through inappropriate treatment, habituation that prevents successful release, or failure to euthanise animals whose prognosis makes release impossible. The decision to treat or euthanise a casualty wildlife animal requires good training, honest prognosis assessment, and welfare-centred decision-making rather than a default 'save everything' approach. Supporting well-resourced, professionally run centres with good BWRC training is the most effective way to contribute to wildlife rehabilitation welfare.