Wildlife Victoria’s relationship manager Amy Amato said there needed to be more training for carers but the non-profit did not have enough money to facilitate it. 

“There are 800 people on our list interested in volunteering and being carers but we don’t have the funding to do it,” she said.

Currently Wildlife Victoria only has the ability to train volunteer rescuers and people to transport animals to vets or accredited rehabilitators. 

“We don’t have resources to be training the rehab side, we would love to in the future but we would need some more funding to do that.”

Wildlife carers in Victoria have to be accredited through the DSE, which also monitors all wildlife rehabilitators, including shelter operators and foster carers. 

Shelter operators are required to maintain and submit an annual record of all animal admissions, and all rehabilitators are required to comply with the Code of Practice for the Welfare of Wildlife during Rehabilitation, under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1986. But Ms Amato said carers were not policed enough.

“There are simple standards put out by DSE but they are not enforced as strictly as they should be,” she said. Wildlife Victoria has been operating for the last 21 years.

Set up as a small volunteer organisation, it was not until the Black Saturday bushfires that it became an official emergency phone service. 

Wildlife Victoria gets no government funding and runs on public donations.