Our Volunteer
Your Time is a Lifeline for East Tennessee Wildlife.
Why Volunteer
Contributing to Real-World Conservation and Lifesaving Work.
Volunteering with Wildlife Rescue of East Tennessee offers a profoundly unique and meaningful opportunity to contribute directly to tangible conservation outcomes, moving beyond simple advocacy to actively participate in the critical, hands-on work of saving vulnerable lives and restoring natural ecosystems. We offer a chance to work alongside highly credentialed veterinary professionals and licensed rehabilitators, providing an unparalleled learning experience for anyone passionate about animal care, environmental science, or non-profit management, with opportunities to gain expertise in specialized feeding, facility maintenance, and behavioral observation. Volunteers quickly become indispensable members of our dedicated team, sharing in the emotional highs of a successful release and understanding that their time and effort directly translate into the survival of countless local animals that would otherwise perish without intervention. This is not just a chance to fill time; it is an opportunity to join a vital, urgent mission that requires commitment, compassion, and a professional adherence to the strict protocols necessary to ensure our patients remain wild and successfully return to their native habitat.
Ways to Help
Diverse Roles for Every Skill and Schedule.
We offer a wide variety of volunteer roles designed to accommodate different skills, schedules, and levels of comfort with direct animal care, ensuring that every individual who commits their time can make a significant, measurable impact on our daily operations. One of the most essential roles is that of the Volunteer Animal Care Technician, assisting staff with enclosure cleaning, diet preparation, and laundry, which is absolutely critical for maintaining the high standards of hygiene necessary to prevent disease and support recovery, requiring a high level of dedication and meticulous attention to detail. For those who prefer to be on the road, our Emergency Transport Team volunteers provide crucial support by driving rescued animals from the reporting location to our Kingsport facility, often requiring a flexible schedule and a willingness to respond quickly to urgent calls across the region. We also rely heavily on Administrative and Outreach Volunteers who help with data entry, fundraising coordination, and staffing our educational booths at community events, ensuring that the critical operational and public awareness needs of the organization are met with the same professionalism as our animal care.
Impact of Volunteering
From a Helping Hand to a Successful Release.
The impact of your volunteer time is immediately felt and directly contributes to our core mission of rescue and rehabilitation, with every hour of your effort translating into improved outcomes for the animals in our care and a greater capacity to serve the community. For every hour an Animal Care Technician spends meticulously cleaning an enclosure or preparing a specialized meal, a licensed rehabilitator is freed up to monitor a critical patient, administer medication, or consult with a veterinarian on a complex case, effectively multiplying the effectiveness of our professional staff and expanding our ability to take in new patients. The dedication of the Transport Team ensures that critical time is not wasted during an emergency, often meaning the difference between life and death for an injured creature by reducing the time it takes to receive medical stabilization. In short, your commitment directly enables the successful completion of the rehabilitation process: a healthy, strong, and prepared animal is released back into the wild, a monumental victory that is only possible because of the compassionate commitment of our entire volunteer network, making your service an essential lifeline for East Tennessee wildlife.
Programs/Services
Specialized Care, Outreach, and Community Training.
WRET maintains distinct rehabilitation programs and dedicated facilities tailored to the unique physiological and behavioral needs of the diverse species native to East Tennessee, ensuring that every patient receives the most appropriate and effective care possible. Our Avian Program handles everything from hummingbirds to bald eagles, featuring large flight cages specifically designed to allow recovering birds to rebuild flight muscle strength and navigational skills before release, utilizing specialized diets rich in species-appropriate proteins and micronutrients. The Mammal Program manages patients ranging from orphaned fox kits and beaver babies to large species like deer and bears, requiring separate, secure outdoor enclosures and strict quarantine protocols to prevent imprinting and the spread of zoonotic diseases, with a strong focus on minimal human contact and fostering natural predator-avoidance behaviors. Our Herptile Program provides careful, temperature-controlled rehabilitation for reptiles and amphibians, utilizing specialized UV lighting and humidity controls necessary for their healing, demonstrating our expansive commitment to the full spectrum of local wildlife, ensuring that no species in need is overlooked simply due to its complexity or size.
