Going Wild

Founder of the Wildlife Aid Foundation, Simon Cowell MBE, reports on releasing orphans back to the wild and the search for suitable release site locations.

- Simon Cowell MBE

OUR mission at the Wildlife Aid Foundation (WAF) is to get the animals we rescue and treat fit, healthy and back out into the wild as soon as possible. We succeed in 70 per cent of cases, which is an impressive figure for any wildlife rescue centre.

One of the reasons for our success is the strict policy on humanisation we have when we take in animals. We treat them and heal them, but we keep human contact to a minimum. We don’t cuddle them and give them names. We care from a distance to ensure they keep their wild instincts and do not come to rely on humans. Baby animals are a challenge because they need to be hand reared, but once they are weaned we cut contact and allow their wild nature to kick in.