Minimum Standards for Wildlife Rehabilitation

Guiding Documents

Several important documents will guide the Iowa Wildlife Center as it fulfills its mission. They include the Minimum Standards for Wildlife Rehabilitation and the Iowa Wildlife Action Plan. To learn why IWC views the action plan as a critical document, click on the link to visit our Iowa Wildlife Action Plan page.

The Minimum Standards for Wildlife Rehabilitation is the most recognized and highly regarded reference for the field. The result of a joint effort of the National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association and the International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council, its objectives are to establish professional standards for wildlife rehabilitation, to encourage the development of improved wildlife rehabilitation programs, and, ultimately, to improve care for all wild animals in rehabilitation. It is designed for all rehabilitators, from the individual rehabilitator with a caseload of a few animals, to organizations, centers, and clinics with caseloads of thousands. It should not matter what size facility provides rehabilitation, the quality of care should be the best possible.

The Minimum Standards for Wildlife Rehabilitation contains a broad spectrum of information contributed by many qualified people since the early 1980s and based on actual experience and expertise. Extensive review by experts in the field and periodic updating ensure high quality content. Accepted norms in biology, medicine, behavior, nutrition, natural history, and housing design have been modified and adapted to fit the unique needs of rehabilitating injured, orphaned, and diseased native wildlife held temporarily in captivity with the goal of releasing them back into suitable natural habitat. The photo above, left, shows a series of tanks holding aquatic turtles at Willowbrook Wildlife Center in Glen Ellen, IL.