Welcome to the homepage of the London Wildcare website. I would like to tell you a little bit about our Charity and about the wonderful work we do for Londons wildlife at our centres in Sutton, Wandsworth and Ealing.
In July 1993, I found an injured swift outside my house. At the time, I was reading Law at Kings College and, although I had a deep love of the natural world, I knew nothing about caring for wild animals. I assumed help would be easy to find but, countless phone calls later, I discovered that all the advice directed me to my local vet, who would humanely kill the bird for me. After that, I knew that more could and should be done. I set about combining my knowledge about how wild animals lived with the basics of veterinary care. In January 1994, I decided to tell the local vets that I would be willing to look after the occasional wildlife casualty if they would treat it for me, rather than simply putting it to sleep.
A year later, and my Law career was over! My bedroom, garage and garden sheds were used to care for almost 600 animals ranging from finches to foxes and I was paying for it by working nights in my local supermarket. In 1997, Sutton Council, who were hugely supportive of my work, gave me the use of a derelict parks depot in Beddington Park, Wallington. With £1000 to our name and a small, enthusiastic band of volunteers, we set up Londonxs first and only professional wildlife hospital.
Today, in 2005, I have three full time animal care staff and a team of over 100 volunteers, all of whom give up their time to help ensure that we are here 365 days a year to care for wild animals in distress. We never turn any animal away that is very important to us! Over the years, we have learned a huge amount and our skills and expertise are now called upon by the police, the fire service and vets throughout the world. We care for over 4000 wild animals every year and that number is forever growing. This service is FREE to all who need it but we do rely entirely upon donations and the occasional legacy to help us meet the costs of running the charity, which, with our two other centres, are set to top a quarter of a million pounds a year by the middle of 2006. We hope you may wish to help! You may like to visit the wildlife hospital at one of our Open Days or events, details of which can be found on this website.
In 2004, Wandsworth Council closed their Nature Study Centre on Wandsworth Common as part of a budget cut. We were keen to see the good work of this facility continue and so we stepped in and took it over. We renamed it The Environment Centre and, in addition to opening to the public with a host of informative displays, we carry on the core work of educating inner city school kids about the wonders of the natural world, as part of their curriculum studies.
In April 2005, as part of our mission to reach as many wildlife orphans and casualties as possible, we took on a small, closed down and derelict animal centre from Ealing Council, situated in Walpole Park. We plan to refurbish this and house some of our permanent residents here, as it has public access to the main enclosures. This will serve to tell people about our work and, once the unit is established, it will become a small clinic and casualty reception unit too.
At London Wildcare, we remain PASSIONATE about London's fantastic wildlife!
We are committed to continue CARING for it, both in times of need and, through education, before problems and conflicts arise.
And we remain DYNAMIC in our desire to expand our work, hoping that, one day, no wild animal will be left to suffer without access to the professional and loving care to which it is rightly entitled.
I hope you enjoy reading about our work and I hope even more that you feel motivated to support it! We face a continual fight for survival with donations always struggling to keep pace with rising costs, and no access to the vast reserves enjoyed by the national animal charities. In 1993, I realised that wild animals needed help too, and I dreamed of doing something about it ~ join with me and my team and help us keep that dream alive.
Thank you
Ted Burden
Director and Founder
