The Kentucky SPCA is in the process of fund-raising and developing a wildlife rehabilitation center in Louisville Metro. We are working to create a short-term facility plan which is in constant development by our group.
Kentucky SPCA Wildlife Rehabilitation Facility Plan
Mission Statement: The mission of the Kentucky SPCA shall be to provide the means for the prevention of cruelty to animals, to enforce all laws designated for the protection of animals, to promote responsible pet ownership, to place adoptable animals into responsible homes when available, and to strengthen the human/animal bond.
Vision: It is the vision of the Kentucky SPCA (NOSPCA) to create a Wildlife Rehabilitation facility in Louisville Metro to provide care for injured, orphaned and displaced wildlife. The Kentucky SPCA will additionally provide response to injured wild animals on a seven day a week basis as funding and volunteer staffing allows.
Overview: The Kentucky SPCA (Kentucky SPCA) currently responds to injured, orphaned and displaced wild animals throughout Louisville Metro.
In the past, the Kentucky SPCA has worked with regional wildlife rehabilitation facilities to place these animals with a Wildlife Rehabilitator.
The Louisville Metro region currently has a few home-based rehabbers specializing in one specific species who each year quickly fill their facilities.
The Kentucky SPCA's Board of Directors has established the construction and daily operation of a wildlife rehabilitation facility to be a critical part of our operations and strategic plan.
Background: The Kentucky SPCA ( Kentucky SPCA) is currently led by a Certified Wildlife Rehabilitator and has two additional wildlife rehabilitators on the Board.
Creating a Wildlife Rehabilitation Facility
The Kentucky SPCA (Kentucky SPCA) expects to have a makeshift decentralized network of permitted state wildlife rehabilitators in place by Q2 of 2022. The Kentucky SPCA is currently working with its partners to host training classes in Louisville. Immediately following these classes the participants will take their state wildlife rehabilitation test in Frankfort.
The Kentucky SPCA plans to retro-fit and operate a building as an open-admission wildlife rehabilitation facility. The facility will be staffed by volunteers and monitored by our veterinarian.
Facility Operations
The facility will be open on a daily basis as volunteers permit and allow for the intake and housing of birds, mammals and reptiles. At all times a Kentucky SPCA-trained and state/federally permitted or sub-permitted wildlife rehabilitator will be on-site to ensure continuity of care for admitted animals. We expect this facility at full operations to admit approximately 2500-3500 animals annually and handle approximately 10,000 phone calls.
Our facility operations will be compliant with the National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association (NWRA) and International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council (IWRC) jointly-published Minimum Standards for Wildlife Rehabilitation.
Transition-To-The-Wild Operations
The transition operations will be closed to the public and entail significant cooperation of resources from other area rehabilitators and release site owners. Until the Kentucky SPCA builds a flight cage we will be forced to transfer some raptors to other facilities. Donations given with those animals will also go to those facilities. The Kentucky SPCA has already identified suitable transition sites in the Kentuckiana region for mammals and birds which allow for a "soft-release" (such as continued feeding for an extended period of time) to ensure success in re-introduction to the wild.
Field Operations
The Kentucky SPCA already maintains response personnel trained in wildlife capture and restraint who will respond as a Wildlife Rescue team. This team will continue to operate as normal. The Kentucky SPCA will additionally train these personnel in humane wildlife control and obtain a nuisance wildlife control operator license from the State of Kentucky to assist homeowners and businesses in the area with humane wildlife removal & rescue. These wild animals will be relocated in accordance with Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife policy and procedure or the owner of the property will be advised of humane exclusion methods recognized by national humane standards.
Office Operations
Our phone system, already in operation, is designed to funnel callers into the appropriate extension and to the appropriate personnel. Our volunteer phone counselors will be trained in humane wildlife control and able to provide counseling to callers in that respect. Statistics and recordings of calls are collected and reviewed by the Board on a weekly basis to ensure quality control and appropriate instructions are being given by the phone counselors to the public. The new facility will allow for volunteers to answer calls as they are received instead of responding to voicemails as time permits.
Education Operations
The Kentucky SPCA's mission is closely tied to education. Our phone counselors will continue to educate callers on humane ways to control wildlife and help them determine when to bring wildlife in to the shelter.
Our education operations will be extended with presentations to the public at various functions and events about our Kentucky wildlife utilizing non-releasable wild animals. Small groups will be able to come on-site to the rehabilitation facility to learn about our operations and we will make presentations directly to schools to allow inner-city children the opportunity to appreciate wild animals.
Our Kentucky SPCA Wildlife Rehabilitation Overall Goal
The Kentucky SPCA's ultimate goal in the creation of a wildlife rehabilitation facility is to decrease the suffering of wild animals in Kentucky and increase the education and appreciation of our wild neighbors to all we come in contact with.