Building Veterinary Capacity for Worldwide Rescue Centres : Wilder International

Wilder International is a wildlife health, care and conservation organisation, based in the East Midlands. Founded by zoologist Lorraine Miller and Veterinary professor Dr Matyas Liptovszky, who collectively have over 40 years’ experience in the veterinary, zoological and wildlife conservation fields. Wilder International focuses on three main aims:

1. Offering advice and training to wildlife carers and veterinarians to build capacity and improve animal health and welfare of displaced and confiscated wildlife;
2. Raising awareness for these organisations through conservation communication;
3. Supporting rewilding initiatives both nationally and internationally

At the heart of the work of Wilder International are wildlife sanctuaries, which play a crucial role in the rescue, rehabilitation, and conservation of wildlife that have been confiscated from the illegal pet trade, victims of habitat destruction, or other human-related threats. These facilities provide a safe environment where wildlife can recover from physical and psychological trauma while receiving appropriate care, however these organisations are often under resourced with limited availability for building the capacity of their vets and animals caregivers when it comes to such topics as nutrition, preventative health and husbandry practices.

“Our overarching goal is improving animal welfare, range country animal care capacity and biodiversity conservation both nationally and internationally” Wilder International founder Dr Matyas Liptovszky.

Wilder International provide both remote support via video calls, presentations and emails to rescue centre and sanctuary staff regarding such topics as husbandry and nutrition and often travel to Asia, Africa and Central America to provide in person training and support for difficult veterinary procedures and challenging social behaviours.

Read more about their work with rehabilitated spider monkeys in Belize….

https://wilder.international/project/spider-monkey-reintroduction-in-belize/

Despite only being registered as a community Interest Company for a short time Wilder International has already achieved great things. In only a few short months the team have provided support for primate nutrition in Laos, elephant health in Thailand, Orangutan welfare in Sumatra and have contributed to several documents and scientific papers on animal welfare, including the IUCN gibbon rehabilitation and reintroduction guidelines. They have also formed a partnership with the conservation company, NatureSpy to facilitate a camera trap monitoring program to aid the organisations they work with through monitoring rescued and released wildlife and UK native species populations.

They have also formed partnerships with other conservation community groups and larger animal welfare organisations to support both native species recovery and international animal welfare and conservation work.

“Collaboration in conservation is vital to expand our reach and impact. We must work together to improve wildlife health, welfare and to create lasting change to benefit biodiversity on a whole” Wilder International founder Lorraine Miller.

The team have given several presentations to train and educate future conservationists, veterinarians and wildlife carers, working with such multi member organisations as the Indonesian Veterinary Medicine Association and Pan African Sanctuary Alliance to reach as many facilities as possible.

One of the main projects Wilder International have running at the moment is the creation of a series of ape nutrition courses funded by the Qato Foundation. These remote access courses aim to provide veterinarians, managers and caregivers with detailed species-specific dietary knowledge in order to make informed choices about species appropriate diets for their charges. By building capacity in this area, they aim to improve wildlife health and welfare throughout the rehabilitation process, improve the likelihood of release and long-term success of these individuals and to give wildlife professionals an additional learning opportunity.

More information on this project can be viewed here…

https://wilder.international/2025/06/16/developing-ape-nutrition-training/

Besides their work in animal health and welfare Wilder International also focus on supporting biodiversity and rewilding initiatives here in the UK and are collaborating on projects in the East midlands and Sussex to enhance natural areas, improve environmental sustainability and promote community conservation initiatives.

At Wilder International we realise the value of collaboration and cooperation to drive animal welfare improvements and conservation impact. There are many ways to get involved and support Wilder International such as sharing our work, supporting our fundraising efforts or donating much needed veterinary equipment and resources to our conservation partners.

If you are interested in learning more about Wilder International feel free to reach out! [email protected]