Demand for our Care Doubles

Last year, we experienced a steep rise in the number of injured and sick wild animals that came into our care.  In 2025, Craven Wildlife Rescue took in over 750 animals and birds - nearly double the amount of the previous year.  

Despite initially just serving Craven, our work covers well over 500 square miles of countryside from our base in Horton in Ribblesdale.  Not only do we serve the North Yorkshire area of Craven, the Yorkshire Dales National Park and the Forest of Bowland National Landscape, our services are now in demand across a much larger area including Cumbria, Lancashire, wider North and West Yorkshire and more. Many of the species we help save are endangered species or those facing conservation challenges e.g. red- or amber-listed animals and birds of conservation concern (BoCC) and European protected species (EPS). 

Total admission figures rose from 396 in 2024 to 751 in 2025, with release figures increasing from 68% of those admitted in 2024 to 74% in 2025.

“We are the only rescue of our kind for many hundreds of square miles so, as more wildlife is under threat, demand for our help is rising,” says Penny Hunt, Co-Founder.  “We do our best to give a second chance to as many wild animals and birds in need as possible. We’ve grown our team of amazing volunteers, including appointing a volunteer vet who supports us on site, grown our Trustees and done a huge amount to strengthen our operation.  

“We are particularly pleased to see that our release figures are rising.  Of course we cannot control the condition that the animals are brought to us in, but we have been communicating the need for animals to be brought to us quickly.  A speedy response by the public massively increases the chance of that animal surviving. We will do everything we can to give each animal and bird the best possible chance of returning to their wild life.”

With a total 190% rise in the number of patients cared for by the Rescue, the biggest rises included: a 508% increase in garden birds, most of which came to the Rescue as fledglings (from 25 in 2024 to 152 in 2025); and a 255% increase in owls and birds of prey (from 22 to 78).  Hedgehogs, the Rescue’s biggest admission by number, rose by 40% - from 236 to 344.

“The rise in the number of birds has been astounding this year,” adds Jane Carpenter, Co-Founder.  “We believe that this is largely down to us becoming better known as a refuge for injured birds.  We’ve done a lot of work recently to let the public know that we take more than just hedgehogs, and this communication is definitely paying off.  Birds continue to be persecuted, poisoned, left homeless, hit by cars, orphaned - and whatever we can do to help them in their hour of need, we will do it. 

“We have quickly become the emergency service for wildlife in need. When we return an animal to the wild, we don’t just save that animal - we help enable it to have young in the spring, and for those young to go on and have their own babies the following spring.  So our contribution to safeguarding the future of species, including those threatened and already endangered, is massive.  We want to say a very large ‘thank you’ to everyone who has supported us in the past 12 months and hope that, in 2026, we can show even more people why we provide an essential service for our countryside.”

Patrick Grant, Craven Wildlife Rescue’s Patron, adds: “These figures are amazing. How Penny, Jane and the team manage to treat so many sick and injured animals, with such meagre resources, is nothing short of miraculous. At a time when our nature is in very serious decline, and under greater threat than ever, what they are doing could not be more important.”

As many of you may know, we recently learnt that the premises in which we are based is likely to be put up for sale.  We have been a tenant of the former Church of England Primary School at Horton in Ribblesdale for over a year, where we have created a professional wildlife hospital for the care and rehabilitation of our patients. The Anglican Diocese of Leeds has recently gained ownership of the school, which closed in 2017, and can sell the site following an application to the Secretary of State.

With all this in mind, your support is even more valuable as we move into 2026. For more information about how you can help us, please click here.