WILDLIFE RESCUE AND REHABILITATION INC.

Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation's goal is to relieve suffering and save lives of distressed animals and to be a voice for animal and habitat protection. WRR has participated in rescue or advocacy efforts that are both state or national in scope for over 44 years.

Over 10,000 wild animals annually who are injured, orphaned, or ill are brought to our hospital at the sanctuary in Kendalia and the rehabilitation clinic in San Antonio. Permanent care within our 212-acre sanctuary is provided to native and nonnative wildlife who cannot be released due to severe disabilities or as consequence of lifetimes spent in exploitive and other damaging circumstances and to farmed animals.

Our education, advocacy, and apprentice training programs contribute to societal changes leading toward more respectful relations with the nonhuman world. Our environmental education programs are created for individuals of all ages. We have a wide range of programs including Young Friends of Wildlife Rescue for children and parents as well as presentations to classrooms, civic organizations, and Homeowners Associations. In addition, our San Antonio location has a well-equipped education center where the public comes for programs on animal protection issues, living with urban wildlife, and more

Our advocacy initiatives work collaboratively with animal protection organizations to advocate for the passage of critical regulatory ordinances involving human-wildlife conflict and related issues. We publicize these efforts through both traditional and social media platforms.

Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation is one of the oldest organizations of its kind in the country, having been in operation since 1977. As a result of longevity, a commitment from the beginning to be the best at what we do, and active collaborative engagement with individuals and organizations nationally we are often looked at as a model in our fields of expertise.

In 1999, we received a million-dollar gift which allowed us to buy 187 acres and build a sanctuary and rehabilitation center from the ground up; this allowed us to create first rate facilities which the ensuing years have seen us steadily modify and improve. In short, the pursuit of excellence in what we do is woven into our daily practice.

Our strategy for enabling this way of operating to continue and strengthen focuses on the following areas: 1) attracting and retaining highly competent staff, including animal caretakers, vet techs, a veterinarian, and associated personnel; 2) developing the resource base to support adequate pay rates (our minimum wage is $15/hour, which is above average in this field and considered more than a living wage in our community) and benefits along with the materials, specialized diets, medications, and equipment needed to care for the animals; this is pursued through a comprehensive fund development program; and 3) developing the managerial and governing competence to guide and support these efforts.

Additionally, we recognize that the nonprofit world has changed considerably over recent years and we strive to ensure that all dimensions of our work are responsive to those changes and operate in the best possible manner. For example, over the last year we have extensively revised our communication strategy through, for example, enhanced presentation and content of our quarterly newsletter, initiation of regular e-newsletters, and utilization of several social media platforms to keep our name and activities visible and attract additional involvement and online donations.

We have always been a primary resource to area radio and TV news regarding issues that arise concerning animals, and we are working to strengthen and broaden these contacts. WRR employs a highly qualified development and communications staff who have the appropriate abilities for effective implementation of outreach initiatives.

In essence, strategic pursuit and accomplishment of goals—whatever the goals and whichever the organization—always depends crucially on resource development, principally to assemble the right people and to enable them to work with sufficient funding and other support toward well-defined goals. Ongoing, it requires creating a working milieu with clear, shared values, and leadership that is responsive to external threats and opportunities and capable of building effective teams and getting from them the best they have to offer. Self-criticism, individually and organizationally, is always expected.

After four decades in operation, we have developed significant internal capacities and external relations for moving forward and accomplishing our goals thanks to having done work that was respected and that attracted loyal supporters in growing numbers over the years. Wildlife Rescue’s accumulated knowledge base and ability to attract adequate resources, for example, can be seen in the evolution, expansion, and improvement of our physical infrastructure, which reflects what has been learned about the best animal housing in relation to different species’ needs.

The main operations are now on 212 acres in the Hill Country northwest of San Antonio and southwest of Austin, and a second rehab and drop-off facility operates in San Antonio. Over the years following purchase of the land, we raised approximately $2.5m. for construction of state-of-the-art facilities through grants and gifts. Similarly, the San Antonio location (though which almost all wildlife now come who need rehabilitation) was made possible when a long-time supporter asked about our greatest need and, when told, proceeded to fully fund it and has continued with annual contributions to its staffing, maintenance, and improvement.

The primary answer to this question, then, is that our capabilities rest to a considerable extent on the strong bond that has developed between the organization and its supporters. For the future, we are working to widen and deepen this bond by additional efforts to motivate those who have the means to increase their level of support. There are also a number of foundations that provide regular support, some of whom have done so for 2-3 decades. As already stated, we believe that a highly competent staff, effective management, and a strong, supportive Board of Directors are the keys, along with reliable resource development, to organizational success.

Since a loyal donor base is essential to our growth and stability we are planning carefully targeted acquisition efforts over the coming year. These will focus on mailings within Texas. To strengthen bonds with area members we also host small gatherings at the sanctuary which allow people to see how their help is used and to encourage additional help.

Wildlife Rescue's direct care goals have been steadily achieved at higher levels over the years as we learned from experience in what is a relatively new field. As mentioned, the main facility on 212 acres, along with opening the outreach/rehab center in San Antonio, have given the organization considerably more space, physically and programmatically, to augment and continue to improve services. For example, sanctuary enclosures are usually 1+ acres and carefully situated so as to give animals more of what they require for satisfactory captive existence. Also, the San Antonio facility, which is an hour closer than the main facility to where most injured and orphaned wild animals are found, means that the animals receive almost immediate care and timely disposition planning resulting in reduced suffering and mortality. Simultaneously, we have continuously upgraded the animal hospital and surgical suite and the skills of staff who work there so that more specialized treatments and better aftercare are possible. And new rehab enclosures tailored to the needs of incoming animals who may arrive carrying contagious diseases have enabled more effective quarantine. In short, forty years of wildlife rehabilitation with continuous leadership from the founder (to this day) and unrelenting emphasis on care quality and life-saving have allowed us to set and meet high standards. The next step will be an expanded hospital furnished with the best of modern equipment. Veterinary and animal care staff work with dozens of species and thousands of animals every year, and their ability to respond to the array of diagnoses and injuries with precision and species-specific interventions will be further enhanced with these improvements.

Additional support for these augmentations comes from development of our Apprentice Education & Training Program, which works with twenty-four college graduate apprentices annually, each of whom is here for a year. In addition to discharging what we consider our responsibility to the profession by passing on knowledge, these numbers allow intervention in more individualized and intensive ways, and apprentice training promotes a continuous atmosphere of learning and growth within the organization.

To develop dependable funding to support all this, along with our education/advocacy goals, and to attract large gifts as part of our capital and endowment-building efforts, we have employed skilled development staff. Over the last decade our budget has nearly doubled to a current level of over $2m./year; we have been able to meet this dramatic increase in expenses through more comprehensive and assiduous fundraising, but we recognize that this growth and our aspirations require that we focus continually on strengthening this component. We believe that, for the most part, we have the staff quality to continue our progress and the necessary confidence of our members and foundations to support it.