Wildlife rescues overwhelm animal shelters in Carinthia

Animal shelters and veterinary practices in Carinthia are facing a growing influx of wildlife, ORF reported. The Tierschutzkompetenzzentrum Klagenfurt, an animal welfare centre, took in 410 wild animals last year and recently stopped accepting new cases because of the workload and costs involved.

Staff at the centre are working around the clock, with young blackbirds, sparrows, magpies, pigeons and crows among the animals most frequently brought in. Hedgehogs, squirrels and bats also regularly arrive.

Anna Offner, the centre’s president, said the workload was substantial. Staff also receive almost daily calls from concerned people who believe they have found animals in distress.

“If someone thinks they have found an abandoned young bird or another wild animal, they should first move away, keep their distance and observe the situation,” Offner said. “The mother will not come if someone is standing too close to the young bird.” She warned that some animals should not be handled at all, adding that a roe deer fawn could be rejected by its mother after being touched.

People need to learn when an animal genuinely needs help, Offner said. An animal that has fallen into a shaft, for example, needs assistance if it cannot free itself.

Information leaflets prepared with hunters are intended to raise awareness. Many people also do not know that not everyone is authorised to care for wild animals. The Vogelhilfe Kärnten, a wildlife bird rescue centre in Villach, has official approval to do so.

The centre, which was established at the beginning of the year and is funded entirely by private donations, has already cared for 268 animals this year. It currently has 27 animals in its care and is not accepting more, director Birgit Franc said.

“People call at 6 a.m. and at 10.30 p.m. The demand is extremely high across Carinthia. There are simply too few care facilities,” Franc said.

The situation has worsened since the death of Dietmar Streitmaier, who operated a wildlife station in Steuerberg with public funding. The station is now missing, according to the report.

Veterinarians are also increasingly treating wild animals and often have to cover the costs themselves, said Franz Schantl, president of the Chamber of Veterinarians. He called for the state to take a different approach and said Carinthia should establish its own wildlife care centre, as Vorarlberg had done in recent months.

Neither the state’s animal welfare department nor its hunting department considers itself responsible for establishing such a facility. Marika Lagger-Pöllinger, the state’s conservation official, said there was no legal mandate to care for wild animals or establish wildlife stations. Conservation policy, she said, was responsible for protecting species.

A round table involving all parties is expected to take place in the near future, according to a commitment from the office of Carinthia Governor Daniel Fellner.