Wild Souls Wildlife Rescue Rehab

Thank you for your interest in becoming a Wild Soul! We depend on our community to help us care for numerous wild mammals in East Jackson County, Missouri. You can help us save lives by transporting injured and orphaned mammals to our center. We are excited to have you on our team!

Who we are:
Wild Souls is a nonprofit 501c3 in East Jackson County, Missouri. We have a state permit to care for injured, sick, and orphaned wild mammals with the overall goal of releasing them back into their native habitat. We are all volunteers and depend on donations and volunteer service hours from our community. We do not receive any government funding and pay for medical care, enclosures, food, and other supplies out of our own pocket. Not only do we rehabilitate wildlife, we focus on teaching the public how to coexist with our wild neighbors and resolve human-wildlife conflicts humanely. Missouri has only four wildlife rescue nonprofits in the state, and we serve the entire Eastern Jackson County. Thank you for your involvement of this much needed movement!

TRANSPORT VOLUNTEER
What to expect:
Typically the transports will involve picking up already contained mammals in the East Jackson County. Some occasions will warrant having to capture an injured, orphaned, or ill wild animal. We will provide training to teach you capture techniques. Please know we do not expect anyone to do anything that makes them uncomfortable or jeopardizes their safety. Your safety is the utmost importance to us. Your involvement is up to you.

We never know when we will receive a call for assistance. Wildlife rescues are very unpredictable. But we do receive more requests for help during March through October. Volunteers will not keep animals overnight or for an extended amount of time. Once you pick up the animal, you will be responsible for transporting the animal to us or where we have instructed. We will expect you to follow up with us after a transport is complete. And we will need you to update us if something changes, and the transport cannot be completed as planned. We also hope you will let us know if there is ever an issue or something that makes you uncomfortable or concerns you. Please feel free to reach out to us with any questions.

Capturing and transporting:
Before you will be asked to capture or handle any wildlife, you will be required to attend a training workshop. We can recommend gloves, transport containers, and other needed supplies. During the transport, our volunteers will not smoke, play loud music, will avoid loud sounds, and do whatever is needed to minimize stress. The container will need to be positioned securely somewhere within the vehicle (not in a truck bed) and not directly in sunlight or near an AC/ heating vent. We do not allow our volunteers to bring their pets along as this could further stress a wild animal that is already compromised. For young wildlife, a source of heat may be required. We will provide the necessary instructions in these cases. If you have passengers or children in the car, please make sure no one is handling the animals directly or the container itself. Once the animal is contained, there is no reason to open the container except for emergency situations or unless instructed to by Wild Souls staff. You are not allowed to take pictures of the animals before, during, or after a transport unless instructed to by a Wild Souls staff member. Handling and transporting are extremely traumatizing for a wild animal, and we need to do our part to avoid anything that could further stress animals in our care.

Regulations:
We will abide by state and federal wildlife regulations that dictate what we can and cannot do as wildlife rehabilitator. We are permitted through the Missouri Department of Conservation to rehabilitate wild mammals. We also network with other wildlife rehabilitators to make sure other species (birds, reptiles, and amphibians) receive prompt help as well. We will familiarize you with the regulations that pertain to you as a volunteer and our center when you attend a training workshop.

Requirements:

Live in Missouri
Adherence to Missouri traffic laws including those applying to phone use and texting
Minimum 18 years of age or older
Driver’s license
Provide proof of current auto insurance coverage
Attend training as needed
Year-round availability
Four or more transports per month if feasible and during our active months
Dependable vehicle (you will have to use your own vehicle)
Read and agree to our liability waiver
Ability to interact with the public in a professional and cordial manner
Agree to inform us or unsubscribe from our MailChimp list if you can no longer volunteer

CLINIC VOLUNTEER
What to expect:
We need volunteers to assist us with our daily operations. Duties will vary depending on the time of day, case load, current intakes, and other factors. Some tasks will be performed in a group setting, and others can be done independently. We are looking for individuals that will represent our mission and professionalism while contributing to a rewarding work environment.

These are some of the daily tasks our that are handled by our volunteers:

Prepping food rations for our patients (washing produce, cutting up food, measuring and prepping meals)
Laundry
Dishwasher
Fielding phone calls using a script
Filing documents
Cleaning cages, equipment used by our patients (dishes, toys, nesting boxes, etc), and transport carriers
Keeping inventory of and organizing donatable items
Maintaining a log of our medical and food supplies to alert the staff when we need to restock
Cleaning facilities as needed
Handling patients after receiving training and committing to over 20 hours of volunteer service
And more!

Requirements:

Minimum of 18 years or older
Live in Missouri
Commit to at least one three to four-hour shift a week for a three-month period
Notify us 24 to 48 hours before you miss a shift
Be on time and stay through the entire shift period
Follow instructions without constant supervision
Be able to work in a group setting
Abide by our policies
Read and agree to our liability waiver
Ability to interact with the public in a professional and cordial manner

Please know, when you sign up for a shift on MailChimp, it may no longer be available at that time. If this is the case, we will inform you. Once you have signed up for a shift, we will expect you to cover that shift weekly for at least a three-month period. We understand that you may need to miss a shift due to personal reasons or holidays. We ask that you give us at least a 24 to 48-hour notice if feasible. If a volunteer continuously misses shifts, they will be removed from the schedule. We depend on volunteers so that we can focus on patient care along with our educational and administrative duties.
Wild mammals are not like our domestic companions that are habituated to humans. Our goal is to minimize stress by handling our wild patients only as needed, prevent them from acclimating to humans, and preparing them for survival in the wild. Once you have volunteered for over 20 hours and have received proper training, you will be able to handle certain cases. We will supervise as needed to ensure your safety and the safety of our patients. While feeding and cleaning cages, please follow our policies of keeping noise to a minimum and behaving in a way that does not further stress the animals in our care.
Our work does not involve cuddling and playing with animals. It involves cleaning messy enclosures, cutting up produce, filing paperwork, and other tasks that can be considered mundane. But all the tasks are essential to our center running smoothly on a day to day basis. And we hope that you find the work rewarding knowing that you are helping us save lives and are a vital part of our team!

MAINTENANCE VOLUNTEER

We need volunteers to assist with the following throughout the year:

Design, build, and maintain nesting boxes following guidelines
Design, build, and maintain enclosures following guidelines
Maintain and repair existing enclosures
Construct enrichment tools
Maintain facilities as needed (painting, repairs, etc.)
And more!

Timing of projects will depend on donations and current needs. Occasionally we will have another nonprofit or community-minded organization willing to help build and maintain structures needed by our patients, too. We will provide supplies (pending donations), tools, and instructions per project.

Requirements:

Minimum age of 18 or older
Live in Missouri
Have construction or other relevant experience
Not hold Wild Souls liable for any accidents to self or personal property
Commit to three projects or more a year or one day a month for maintenance needs
Read and agree to our liability waiver
Agree to inform us or unsubscribe from our MailChimp list if you can no longer volunteer

TRAINING

We will have workshops throughout the year. Please join our Wild Souls Volunteer Facebook group page here. Once you have signed up with us, we will send out e-mail notices for upcoming workshops and/ or post them on our Facebook group page above.

LIABILITY
Wild Souls Wildlife Rescue and Rehab will not be held liable or accountable for any accidents or damage to personal property while volunteering with Wild Souls. We will provide an electronic copy of our liability form for you to read, sign, and submit via e-mail. We will need this before you start your first shift. We will also have forms at our training workshops.

SLACK APP
We will need you need to have the slack.app Its free of charge to you! We can walk you through using it. Its very user friendly.

FORM
Please fill in the following information so we will have your pertinent information. Thank you for joining our team and helping us make a difference for our Missouri wildlife! Feel free to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or checkout our website.

WILD SOULS WILDLIFE RESCUE AND REHAB