East Sussex Wildlife Rescue Ambulance Service (WRAS) was established by its founder and now Operations Director Trevor Weeks MBE as a voluntary group in 1996. The organisation was set up in order to provide a front-line rescue service for wildlife casualties who unlike their domesticated cousins, do not have owners to help look after them.
East Sussex WRAS is in the unique position of having dedicated ambulances to support the work of the volunteers and staff across the region who assist and help the wildlife across our county. The ambulances carry a variety of equipment, from ladders, various nets, stretchers, first aid kits, dog graspers, swan hooks, and much more. WRAS ambulances have been involved in numerous rescues including helping to deal with a seal trapped in a nuclear power station, an albino deer with its antlers caught in a rope swing, a badger stuck in a disused swimming pool, a fox trapped in a drain, a bird caught up on a chimney, birds flying round inside a house, run over hedgehogs and much more.
The charity has slowly expanded and improved the facilities and handles up to 300 casualties at any one time from hedgehogs to foxes and deer to a wide variety of birds. Additionally, as we are close to the sea, we often support the rescue of seals along the coast. The hospital has a treatment room, used by our registered vet, an orphan rearing area, education room, pens and aviaries. WRAS also has a number of sites across the county where it does the outside rehabilitation of casualties.
