Wildlife Rehabilitation and Release Criteria

Wildlife rehabilitators care for injured and orphaned animals, but determining when release is appropriate requires balancing welfare considerations with conservation priorities.

Key Facts

Wildlife rehabilitation in North America involves over 1,000 permitted facilities
Release rates for admitted wildlife average 30-50% across all species
Raptors have higher release rates than many other species due to specialized diets
Birds with one wing cannot be released and require permanent placement or euthanasia
Imprinting on humans prevents release in species requiring complex learned behaviors
Rehabilitators often work with limited budgets and rely heavily on volunteers

Welfare Considerations

Animals that cannot be released face a quality-of-life determination that is among the most difficult in wildlife care. Lifetime captivity for a wild animal that retains strong ranging instincts may represent greater suffering than euthanasia. Animals that are almost but not fully releasable face a difficult intermediate situation. The question of when rehabilitation serves animal welfare versus prolongs suffering in an irrecoverable situation requires careful, case-by-case assessment guided by evidence-based criteria.

What You Can Do

Donate to local wildlife rehabilitation organizations
Volunteer time, transport, or fostering support to rehabilitators
Report injured wildlife promptly to give animals the best chance of recovery
Support creation and use of validated welfare assessment tools for rehabilitation
Advocate for funding of wildlife rehabilitation as a public good
Learn your region is wildlife rehabilitation contacts before an emergency occurs