Victorian Willife Council

Victorian Wildlife Rehabilitation Council
PO Box 8773
Carrum Downs
Vic 3201

Dear Careers

We write this letter to you with the very exciting news that the Steering Committee for the formation of the Victorian Wildlife Rhabilitation Council (VWRC) has been very active and we felt it essential that we update you on our progress, goals and time frames.

The incentive for establishing a statewide council is to represent the interests and concerns of all wildlife careers in Victoria. Substantial progress has already been made thanks largely to the tireless efforts of the initial Working Group. It is now the responsibility of the Steering Committee to continue establishing the framework in which the state council will operate and ensure that the process of forming the VWRC is open and transparent.

During the process of establishing a framework for the Steering Committee, the working group agreed to a Committee structure consisting of three representatives from each of the six Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) regions. This has since been altered to include an addition two representatives from the Metropolitan Region, due to the large number of carers represented in that region, with the unanimous endorsement of all working group members. The new structure was developed to ensure equitable and fair representation across all the areas of the state and we are confident that this will be the case.

The Steering Committee has conducted and scheduled at least seven meetings to October 2008 in order to further develop the framework for the new council. The meetings have been open and transparent and engaged all representatives in demonstrating a holistic statewide approach to wildlife care. While our goals are ambitious and will require an enormous amount of commitment from all involved, we hope to have established the framework and commenced initiating the formation of the State Council by the end this year.

In additional to the regional representatives, the Steering Committee also has delegates from the RSPCA, Wildlife Victoria, Help for Wildlife and the DSE. The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) played an instrumental role in the working group and has accepted invitation by the Steering Committee to remain as Chairperson. We are most grateful for IFAW’s continued involvement and we thank them for their support.

The most essential role for the Steering Committee is to represent all authorized carers in Victoria. We have attached a list of contact names and numbers for each steering committee member and we would encourage you to contact your representative with any feedback or suggestions with regard to the formation of the State Council. We are in the process of establishing a web site that will contain up to date information for all wildlife carers and encourage you to monitor the web site at www.victorianwildliferehabilitationcouncil.org

Due to privacy laws we are unable to access the DSE database listing of authorized carers and so encourage you to fill in and return the attached form to join our own database. Your personal details will only be used by the Steering Committee to keep you updated and informed of our progress. It will also enable you to be an active participant in the process of forming the Victorian Wildlife Council, as you will be able to provide feedback and comment to your local representative.

Once the Victorian Wildlife Rehabilitation Council is formed your details will be passed on to them to allow the flow of information to continue. Providing your details is purely for information purposes and does not equate to membership of the council, which will hopefully be facilitated at a later stage by the Council themselves. Your details will be held in confidence by the Steering Committee and will be used strictly for the purposes of forwarding correspondence and seeking feedback. Your information will not be made available to any other person, group or department. .

The process of sharing and forwarding correspondence and information is open to anyone who has an interest in wildlife rescue, care and rehabilitation and wishes to be kept informed about the progress of the Steering Committee and VWRC. So please share this information with your foster carers, rescuers and colleagues and encourage them to forward their details so that we can keep in contact with the entire wildlife community, who we represent.

We look forward to hearing from you in the future as we strive toward a body of wildlife carers that represent the concerns and thoughts of all wildlife carers in Victoria.

Yours Sincerely,

Steering Committee for the formation of the Victorian Wildlife Council