When you encounter an animal that appears injured, sick, or orphaned, the absolute first step is to immediately call the WRET 24/7 emergency hotline, and under no circumstances should you attempt to capture or handle the animal without speaking to our trained specialists, who will guide you through the initial, crucial steps. Our coordinator will ask you a series of detailed questions regarding the animal’s species, the exact location, the nature of the injury or distress, and any immediate threats in the environment, which is vital for assessing the risk and determining the appropriate response protocol. After gathering the necessary information, they will either dispatch a trained emergency rescue team to your location, if the situation is urgent and dangerous, or they will guide you on the safest way to contain the animal until a volunteer transport can arrive, emphasizing techniques that prioritize minimizing stress and avoiding habituation before the animal is quickly and professionally brought to our Kingsport rehabilitation facility for immediate veterinary triage.

It is paramount that citizens prioritize their own safety and the safety of the animal by maintaining a respectful distance and avoiding all physical contact while waiting for our team, as even the smallest wild animal, when injured or frightened, may bite or scratch, and handling wildlife poses the risk of zoonotic disease transmission. Determining if a young animal is truly orphaned is a critical step, as many healthy young, like fawns and rabbits, are naturally left alone for long periods while their parents forage, and intervening prematurely is considered “kidnapping” which negatively affects their chances of survival. Our specialists advise that unless an animal is visibly bleeding, has been clearly attacked by a cat or dog, is lethargic, or is surrounded by deceased siblings, the best practice is to observe it from afar for several hours and only intervene by calling us if its condition significantly deteriorates or if a parent does not return by a designated time frame.

WRET maintains meticulous records and is proud of our consistently high rehabilitation success rate, which varies slightly depending on the severity of injuries and the species involved, but generally sits well above industry standards due to our specialized medical expertise and rigorous pre-release conditioning protocols. The most significant contributing factor to a successful return to the wild is the animal’s lack of habituation to humans; this is why our facility strictly adheres to a policy of minimal, controlled human contact, ensuring the animal retains its natural fear and survival instincts, which is non-negotiable for release. Other key factors include the promptness of the initial rescue, the quality of species-appropriate nutrition administered, and the animal’s physical recovery in our naturalized, complex flight and conditioning enclosures where they must successfully demonstrate hunting, foraging, and predator avoidance skills over a sustained period before they receive final clearance.

Managing the nutritional needs of hundreds of diverse wildlife patients—ranging from insectivorous bats to herbivorous deer and carnivorous raptors—is one of the most complex and expensive aspects of our operation, requiring meticulous diet preparation and specialized knowledge from our animal husbandry team. Our food preparation facility adheres to strict sanitary standards, and all meals are precisely formulated using veterinary-approved species-specific diets, often including live prey for predators, specialized fruits and seeds for birds, and complex nutrient-rich formulas for orphaned mammals that require round-the-clock tube or bottle feeding to ensure proper development. The goal is always to transition animals onto a diet that perfectly mirrors what they would be consuming in the wild before release, which ensures they are both physically strong and psychologically ready to secure their own food sources immediately upon their successful return to nature.

While our emergency response team operates on a continuous, 24-hour, 7-days-a-week schedule, prepared to immediately triage and accept critically injured animals at any hour of the day or night, our administrative and non-emergency phone lines are staffed during standard business hours, typically from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday. If you have a general inquiry about volunteering, making a donation, scheduling an educational workshop, or reporting an animal that is not in immediate life-threatening danger, we kindly request that you call during these hours to ensure that our emergency lines remain clear for genuine, time-critical situations that demand the immediate attention of our on-site medical staff. We are not open to the public for casual drop-in visits, as maintaining a quiet, low-stress environment is paramount to the successful recovery of our patients, but we welcome visitors during our pre-scheduled, supervised special activity and open house events.

The most effective way for homeowners to foster safe coexistence and prevent conflicts that necessitate our intervention is by taking several simple, yet crucial, preventative steps to eliminate sources of attraction and injury around their properties, thereby establishing clear boundaries between human and wild spaces. This includes strictly securing all garbage cans with locking lids to prevent animals like raccoons and bears from accessing human food, which can lead to dependence and boldness, and ensuring that pet food is never left outdoors, especially at night, as it attracts larger predators to residential areas. Homeowners should also cap their chimneys, securely screen their vents, and trim trees away from the roofline to prevent animals like squirrels, bats, and birds from nesting in attics or garages, which often results in them becoming trapped or injured. By proactively addressing these common attractants and entry points, the community can significantly reduce the number of preventable wildlife incidents, creating a safer environment for both their families and the native species that share our East Tennessee landscape.