Wildlife Rescue

Across six continents and three oceans, we deploy rescue teams wherever animals need help. And since we can’t save every animal, we invest heavily in training our partners and preparing local communities to step up when animals need them most. Survival is a team effort.

Our Marine Mammal Rescue and Research teams use every distress call as an opportunity to advance what we know about sea life and how to help it thrive. It’s a continuous cycle—and it’s saving lives. For instance, against widespread consensus, our years of data proved that individual stranded dolphins deemed healthy can reintegrate back into their pod. What’s more, we’re getting better at this: in the 1990s, we successfully released 1 in 10 rescued dolphins. Today, it’s 3 in 4.

When animals are no longer safe where they live, we help them find a new home. For example, without the necessary space or nutrition, big cats in captivity are often just barely alive. That’s why we relocate lions and tigers locked up in roadside zoos or backyards to one of the verified big cat sanctuaries in North America. Meanwhile, half-a-world away, our Beijing Raptor Rehabilitation Center has rescued and released more than 4,000 birds.

When animals are orphaned, their survival is an open question. We step in to answer, providing the nurturing that all orphans desperately need. From elephants in Zambia and Burkina Faso, to rhinos and bears in India, our orphan-rescue teams attend to these animals’ physical and social needs. We take them for walks, feed them, socialize them, teach them how to survive, and even watch over them as they sleep. It takes years, but when they’re ready, we help orphaned animals get back to the wild, where they can start their own families.