The Wild Things Res-Q hospital is treating an increasing number of animals and relies solely on memberships and donations.

The charity was set up in 1993 to meet a perceived need.  Caring for injured, sick and orphaned wildlife has been carried out for many years, mostly by individuals in their own homes and with what time and facilities they had available.  There were a few centres, either practicing or in their infancy, around the country, but none in Wiltshire.

What we wanted to do was to offer more in a variety of ways, not just to replace what was already there.  We would do this by providing better practical facilities (i.e. aviaries, pens, hospitalisation, intensive care, etc.), having somewhere to pool knowledge and experience, to train those working (or wishing to work) in this field and, importantly, continuity.

There is a moral / ethical / humanitarian aspect to the charity that has been a strong driving force for the individuals who have worked so hard to make it succeed.  It is mainly a desire to try to redress the balance between man and our wild environment by giving those that we harm, either directly or indirectly, a second chance to live a full life.  We do not expect to make a large impact on species conservation, as the number of animals that we can help are only a very small percentage of their populations, but we do feel that we are right to help the ones that come our way, either back to health or, if that is not possible, then at least not to suffer.

We operate a rescue, care, rehabilitation and release service, 24 hours a day, in and around Wiltshire.  We have over 100 volunteers with various capabilities and have, in leaps and bounds (and much in between), got to the position where we have 17 acres of land at Newton Tony with outbuildings and plans of what we want to do.  So far on site we have mostly indoor facilities, intensive care, kenneling, pens and aviaries.  We are in the process of building some more outdoor pens and aviaries as well as improving on the facilities we have in the barn, as we have a problem heating them through the winter.

Currently, we deal with around 3000 animals each year.  Once we are better known, we expect this number to increase.  To care for them properly and achieve our aims we will need a large hospital unit, specialist indoor units, species-specific aviaries, pens and ponds – all with their own maintenance requirements.  We will also need to staff it, for many years to come.