Since 2021, the Wildlife Rehabilitator Emergency Fund (WREF) has distributed $58,000 to 155 operations nationwide.
TEXAS, USA — It’s been nearly a month since deadly floods swept through the Texas Hill country. A nonprofit organization, Animal Help Now, is assisting wildlife rehabilitators impacted by the tragedy.
David Crawford is the co-founder and executive director of Animal Help Now, a nonprofit that distributes wildlife rehabilitators grants nationwide through its Wildlife Rehabilitator Emergency Fund (WREF).
A Kinder World Foundation provided initial funding to get the program WREF under way and is occasionally funded through the foundation’s support.
“Rehabilitators don’t tend to have government support so they rely on the public,” Crawford said. “Majority are self-funded. Majority work out of their homes. That’s true in Texas. And when disasters strike, they need us. [We] provide small grants of $200 to $500 to these operations that are impacted, but we do so rapidly.”
Crawford says the money is funded within a day or two, and when rehabilitators are handling a massive intake of orphaned or injured animals, every dollar counts. The organization works remotely from Boulder County, Colorado.
“When we started to see the magnitude of this tragedy disaster, we found all the rehabilitators that we keep track of in Texas in that area, the Hill Country,” he said. “And we contacted them and let them know that these grants were made available.”
Since 2021, Crawford says the Wildlife Rehabilitator Emergency Fund (WREF) has distributed $58,000 to 155 operations nationwide.
“People who, especially the home-based rehabilitators, are just so grateful for help because they tend to not get a lot of help,” he said. “People come to them and ask them for help.”
There are more ways Animal Help Now has assisted communities dealing with a crisis, they have two apps dedicated to saving animals.
“We have our namesake app, which is called Animal Help Now that is for people to use when they encounter injured or orphaned wildlife,” Crawford said. “And it helps them find the nearest wildlife rehabilitator 24/7. We have a new app called Pet Help & Rescue. It’s a neighbors-based messaging app for evacuating neighborhood animals who are home-alone when disaster strikes.”
To learn more about how you can help rehabilitators get back on their feet, click here for the GoFundMe page to the Wildlife Rehabilitator Emergency Fund (WREF).