The RSPCA is calling on people in Volunteers’ Week (June 2-8) to help the animal charity recruit 2,500 new Wildlife Friends who can protect and nurture wildlife.
Wildlife Friends pledge to undertake simple tasks in gardens and outdoor spaces to help wildlife thrive and protect them from injury. By doing so they are not only helping wildlife but ensuring the RSPCA’s highly-skilled frontline staff have more time to focus on tackling cases of cruelty and neglect.
The animal charity is releasing a new menu of quick and simple tasks which can be completed by volunteers who sign up as Wildlife Friends. These include creating a mini wildlife pond (below) to provide a habitat for frogs, newts and insects, putting away football netting so that wild animals such as foxes don’t get tangled up and injured, and providing drinking stations for wildlife when temperatures soar.
Wildlife Friends was launched by the RSPCA in 2023 to encourage people to join a one million-strong movement for animals and play their part in creating wildlife-friendly habitats and environments. Last year the RSPCA received 40,003 calls about wild animals in need, and many of these could have been prevented. The need to increase awareness of the problems faced by wildlife and how best to protect them has never been greater.
RSPCA Volunteer Experience Partner Sherry Flanagan said: “This summer a little kindness goes a long way. Like us, animals face challenges as the weather gets hotter, so our wildlife experts have created a series of small acts of kindness people can carry out, to help wild animals they share their neighbourhoods with.
“They are small acts of kindness which take a few minutes, but they will make a big difference to wildlife. We’ve got a great team of dedicated volunteers making a huge difference for animals, and we are asking people this Volunteers’ Week to sign-up and help the RSPCA recruit 2,500 new Wildlife Friends this year.”
Hundreds of wildlife-friendly tasks have already been completed so far this year by the RSPCA’s dedicated volunteers and the charity wants more people to get involved as the summer arrives. There are already around 7,200 people volunteering with the RSPCA across England and Wales, an increase of 10% on the same time last year. During 2024 1,971 of those signed up as volunteers were Wildlife Friends.
Chantal, from Kent, has been a Wildlife Friend for the last two years and she says she has enjoyed creating compost heaps in her garden to promote insect life and grabbing her litter picker and bags to tidy up local grot spots.
“I found out about Wildlife Friends when I was volunteering with the RSPCA as a Super Campaigner,” said Chantal. “I’d started making my garden bird-friendly by growing shrubs and brambles, but being a Wildlife Friend reminded me of the importance of cleaning bird feeders, while I also love litter picking.
“I enjoy learning new tasks I may have not otherwise thought about, such as adding a stone to water baths for insects or building butterfly feeders. I have work and family commitments, and it isn’t possible for me to volunteer at an animal centre, so being part of Wildlife Friends is a great way of helping wildlife in a flexible way and being part of a like-minded group of people.”
Carl Bunting from Rotherham, completed all the Wildlife Friends tasks in 2024 and says this type of volunteering is ideal for him as he has limited spare time. Volunteers who sign up are provided access to the RSPCA’s online app Assemble and can pick and choose from a menu of activities. After they have completed them they are invited to log details, including pictures and even videos of how they went about their wildlife-friendly tasks.
“This year I put up nest boxes which successfully fledged three Blue Tit chicks and I have created a hedgehog highway (pictured) – hedgehogs are regular visitors to my garden,” said Carl. “I have spring cleaned bird feeders and made an apple seed bird feeder, planted wildlife-friendly plants and made a bug hotel. I also volunteered for Great British Spring Clean and No Mow May and I’ve been active on campaigning issues by completing surveys and writing to my MP, while I’ve also taken part in the RSPCA’s Big Conversation on Animal Futures.
“My favourite task is litter picking, which my dog Finn helps me with, as well as making hedgehog houses and bird boxes. It has been fabulous to see wildlife up close in my garden. I would recommend this type of volunteering to anyone as it gives busy people the opportunity to get involved and make a contribution.”
More than 10,209 wild animals were admitted to the RSPCA’s four wildlife centres last year, a rise of 35% compared to 2023, with hedgehogs (2,275), the species most likely to need help followed by wood pigeons (1,113), herring gulls (831), mallard ducks (660) and feral pigeons (539).
At the centres, volunteer wildlife assistants play an important role helping the painstaking rehabilitation of animals so they can be released back to the wild. Volunteer Carole Reece has spent more than 10 years caring for the hedgehogs who pass through RSPCA Stapeley Grange Wildlife Centre in Cheshire.
Carole, from Haslington, near Sandbach, said: “Stapeley is really busy in summer and there is plenty of work to do cleaning, weighing and feeding the animals. I quite often release hedgehogs in my own garden when they can’t be released where they were found. I have a night camera to watch them which is fascinating as they move so quickly.”
