New Wildlife Rehabilitation Guidelines Need Your Attention
Kathy Konishi, Special Licensing Unit Manager, CDOW
By now, all permitted wildlife rehabilitators and provisional wildlife rehabilitators in Colorado have been notified of the new CDOW guidelines and forms on sponsoring and provisional activities in their renewal notices and with the 2007 licenses that were renewed. I have personally communicated with many of you about this, as well as presented on this at the CCWR Symposium in February. These materials were developed to clarify the process and expectations regarding sponsorship responsibilities and provisional activities in order to provide direction to provisional license holders, wildlife rehabilitation sponsors, and the CDOW.
The foundation of these guidelines is drawn from several sources. First and foremost, the primary source for the development of these policy guidelines is Chapter 14 - Wildlife Rehabilitation. Second, the CDOW’s general experience with sponsorship and provisional processes and results was incorporated. Third, I used my eighteen years of observations and experience with wildlife rehabilitators, the development of new rehabilitators (including both sponsors and provisionals) in the Special Licenses Unit. Fourth, the guidelines reflect processes used successfully by some rehabilitators.
The objectives of these guidelines are to help clarify processes and expectations involving the development of new rehabilitators – and ultimately to improve wildlife rehabilitation activities by helping wildlife and rehabilitators. Another objective was to address some of the issues that were routinely surfacing.
I strongly encourage each of you to review the materials since these will be affecting sponsors and provisionals – and rehabilitation in general. Here are a couple of examples:
- The Application Flow Chart shows the steps for people to get their provisional and full wildlife rehabilitation licenses. It provides an easy to use diagram of the licensing process, including state (Chapter 14) and federal regulations. Both CDOW and USFWS officers have expressed concern about some rehabilitators not understanding or following the regulations.
- Sponsors are encouraged to limit the number of provisionals that they sponsor to three or less in order to provide closer supervision. This help the sponsor to be able to have more time to train and supervise their provisionals, and help the provisional get more support. A few rehabilitators have tried to sponsor too many people at a time in the last few years, resulting in provisionals with less oversight and training – and impacts on wildlife, rehabilitators, and field officer’s time.
- Sponsors and provisionals are strongly encouraged to limit the number of species and animals that the provisional rehabilitator admits for care. This can help the provisional develop more knowledge and skill, and provide better care for the animals. Both the CDOW and rehabilitators have expressed serious concerns with provisionals admitting too many animals in the last few years. This needs to be addressed by the sponsors and provisionals.
- Sponsors are encouraged to personally inspect the provisional applicant’s facility using the wildlife rehabilitation facility inspection form prior to the District Wildlife Manager’s inspection.
- Specific detailed learning plans should be developed for each provisional (examples are provided). This learning plan helps guide the provisional’s training and experience, as well as help record accomplishments. A copy of the learning plan should accompany the provisional’s license application.
- Documentation from the sponsor about the provisional’s rehabilitation knowledge and experience is required for provisional to be upgraded to wildlife rehabilitation status. A copy of the sponsor referral form and example of a completed form are provided. The CDOW considers this form to be more complete and effective than the letters that some sponsors have previously tried to use.
As I mentioned earlier, these materials were offered to help improve understanding and to avoid problems. Unfortunately, the CDOW has found that some rehabilitators do not seem to be using these guidelines or taking them seriously. They are still trying to sponsor too many provisionals and are not providing adequate training and supervision. As a result, there seem to be an increasing number of problems. I sincerely hope that rehabilitators will give more attention to these materials and work to improve wildlife rehabilitation for all involved.