Conditions of WIRES membership

Each person must read this information before completing their application for membership or membership renewal.

The Licence to Rehabilitate Injured, Sick and Orphaned Protected Animals (being Licence No MWL000100285 (Licence)) is granted to Wildlife Information Rescue and Education Service Ltd. (WIRES) by the NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service (NPWS), a directorate of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, in accordance with the provisions of Part 2 of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (NSW).

Under the Licence, WIRES is (amongst other things) authorised to rescue and rehabilitate nominated Australian native wildlife. As a Member of WIRES, you will also have authority to rescue and rehabilitate nominated Australian native wildlife.

Declaration by Member:

You must carefully read all of the conditions of membership below and ensure that you meet those conditions if you wish to apply or to renew your membership.

If you do not meet all of the conditions of membership below, then you must apply to the Board of WIRES for special permission to join or renew your membership. The Board of WIRES may, at its sole and exclusive discretion, grant or deny such permission.

If you do not meet all of the conditions of membership below, then you can apply to the Board of WIRES for special permission to renew, at: members@wires.org.au

It is to be remembered that under the Constitution of WIRES, each application and membership renewal is subject to the sole and unfettered discretion of the Board of WIRES. A decision will be made and communicated to you.

Conditions of membership:

1. You do not currently hold any authorisation or licence from NPWS (other than by virtue of your membership of WIRES Ltd.)

2. You are not a member of an organisation or entity that does work which is similar to the work carried out by WIRES Ltd.

3. You have never had your membership of WIRES Ltd, or of any other organisation or entity that does work which is similar to the work carried out by WIRES Ltd., terminated or suspended.

4. You have never been refused membership of WIRES Ltd, or of any other organisation or entity that does work which is similar to the work carried out by WIRES Ltd.

5. You have not been convicted of an offence under the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 No 63, and the Prevention Of Cruelty Of Animals act 1979 no 200 or any other similar legislation.

6. You have not ever been convicted of an offence punishable by imprisonment for 12 months or more in NSW or elsewhere.

7. Under applicable privacy laws, we are required to seek your permission before passing any of your personal information to members of WIRES, except that such permission is not required when passing your personal information to your Branch Management Committee and/or Phone and Species Coordinators. When you first joined WIRES, you gave us permission to disclose to the members of your Branch, your basic personal information (being your name, address, email address and phone number). You agree to update WIRES with any changes to your basic personal information from time to time and you agree to continue to permit WIRES to disclose to the members of your Branch, your basic personal information as it may be updated from time to time.

8. You are of good character and a fit and proper person, suitable for membership of WIRES.

By proceeding to join WIRES or renew membership, the member agrees to:

1. Abide by the WIRES policies, procedures, guidelines and handbooks and the NSW Government Codes of Practice for Injured, Sick and Orphaned Protected Fauna (as detailed on the WIRES Members’ Website) of the Wildlife Information Rescue and Education Service Limited (WIRES) and undertake not to contravene wildlife or animal cruelty laws, such as the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 No 63, and the Prevention Of Cruelty To Animals act 1979 no 200. All native animals remain the property of the Crown, whether alive or dead.

2. Register all animals rescued or in care with the appropriate Species Coordinator, within 24 hours of an animal coming into your possession, regardless of its origin. Unfurred, unfeathered and very young animals must be registered immediately.

3. Ensure all call sheet records are completed and updated in the system as soon as possible after the animal is rescued, updated accordingly with important information pertaining to that animal, and updated as soon as the fate of the animal is known.

4. Comply with directions given by the Species Coordinators with regard to the fate and the movements of animals in care. Non-compliance with Branch/Species Coordinator or relevant WIRES Ltd representative instructions may result in withdrawal of authorisation or expulsion as a Member. In all these matters the holder has agreed to abide by the determinations of WIRES Ltd.

5. Maintain all reporting requirements, including all call sheet database records, to the required standard.

6. Acknowledge that any animal held in care for over 3 months must undergo evaluation by the Species Coordinator (or nominated Branch Officer) and a third party be nominated, preferably the treating Vet or experienced species specific member, to determine whether rehabilitation of the animal will continue. A written report will be required.

7. Take full responsibility for any WIRES facilities and equipment, ensuring that you properly manage, maintain and safeguard all property and equipment held and acknowledge that the said property and equipment shall always remain the property of WIRES.

8. Pay the annual WIRES membership renewal fee as applicable and renew membership each year by agreeing to WIRES terms and conditions of membership.

9. If for any reason the holder resigns or has his/her authorisation cancelled, he/she agrees to return all items belonging to WIRES to the Branch Secretary or nominated contact.

10. All WIRES Members must permit WIRES, through its relevant personnel, and authorised NPWS officers to inspect facilities and fauna held in care under WIRES licence.

11. WIRES members must notify WIRES head office immediately, so that they can notify NPWS, should they acquire a non-native (exotic) reptile.

WIRES Work, Health and Safety (WHS) and You

WIRES has a primary duty of care to ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, the health and safety of WIRES members and other persons, while undertaking volunteer activities or duties. WIRES meets its obligations to its volunteers, so far as is reasonably practicable, to provide a safe and healthy workplace by:

Providing WIRES WHS procedures and considerations
Providing information about safety equipment and PPE
Providing specialised training (RICC and Advanced Species Training)
Requiring members to report incidents to the Volunteer Support Manager
Requiring members to accept that safe work practices are the responsibility of the individual undertaking WIRES activities

By joining WIRES or renewing your membership, you are agreeing:

That you have read and understand WIRES WHS Procedures and Considerations (available in the WHS section of the WIRES members website).
That you will read important WHS updates as they become available.
That you will take reasonable care that your own acts or omissions do not adversely affect the health and safety of other persons.
That you will ensure that you only attend rescues and volunteer activities in which you have been appropriately trained to undertake, are within your medical and physical capacity to be carried out safely, where you have the appropriate equipment and resources to do the task correctly and safely and have conducted a comprehensive risk assessment and applied appropriate risk controls.

Your Privacy and WIRES Ltd.

WIRES Ltd. collects and holds personal information from its members for the purposes of administering membership, ensuring compliance with WIRES’ biodiversity conservation licence and related statutory obligations, and facilitating the rescue, rehabilitation and care of wildlife. Such personal information may include:

your name, residential address, telephone numbers, email address, date of birth and occupation;
details of any previous membership of comparable organisations and any suspensions or terminations of membership;
details of any conviction of an offence under the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (NSW), the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1979 (NSW), or any other relevant legislation;
health information, including vaccination records and blood titre results (for example, lyssavirus titres, where relevant to your eligibility to rescue or care for bats);
your availability for rescues and details of any equipment available for use in rescues, and details of any equipment, assets, or resources in your possession that may be reasonably available for use in rescues and/or wildlife rehabilitation.
your experience and skills, including details of wildlife courses attended and the dates of completion.

WIRES considers the collection of the above information necessary for the proper functioning, good governance and objectives of the organisation. The information is required in order to confirm eligibility to act as a rescuer or carer within WIRES’ network of volunteers, to meet licence and statutory obligations, and to enable WIRES to communicate effectively with members.

WIRES will use and disclose personal information only for the purposes described above, for the furtherance of WIRES’ objectives, or as otherwise authorised or required by law. In particular:

WIRES may disclose personal information to external organisations such as the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), relevant regulatory authorities, courts and law enforcement agencies;
WIRES may also disclose personal information to third-party service providers, contractors or collaborators engaged to support WIRES’ operations, in accordance with WIRES’ Privacy Policy; and
sensitive health information, such as titre results, will not be disclosed to any non-member except as required by NPWS, a law enforcement officer or a court of competent jurisdiction.

All WIRES Members acknowledge that certain communications issued by WIRES, including but not limited to operational notices, compliance updates and other matters integral to volunteering and membership, constitute transactional communications. Such communications are essential to your membership and are not subject to any unsubscribe facility.

All personal information collected, used and disclosed by WIRES will be handled in accordance with WIRES’ Privacy Policy and the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).
By maintaining membership with WIRES, you acknowledge and consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information on the terms set out above and in WIRES’ Privacy Policy.

WIRES Insurance and You

WIRES Ltd. maintains a personal accident and injury insurance policy on behalf of its members as well as a public liability policy. The insurance policy provides limited cover in the event of death or disablement of an authorised person or member in the pursuit of WIRES Ltd. business.

Volunteers should be aware of the following points:

Non-authorised members of the public are not covered by WIRES insurance and MUST NOT be involved in rescue or foster care of native animals.
No cover is provided for sickness / illness.
Members are covered for necessary travel to and from authorised WIRES activities however members’ vehicles and personal possessions are NOT covered by the Policy.
In the event of injury, all medical costs must be recovered from other sources where possible e.g. Medicare and/or private insurance. Insurance does not cover any “gaps” between treatment costs and payments from other sources.
Authorised reptile rescuers are covered, however milking of snakes is not covered.
Claims resulting from pre-existing injuries are excluded
If a member does not renew each year, they are no longer a Member of WIRES Ltd. They are therefore no longer covered under WIRES Ltd. insurance policies and no longer authorised to rescue and rehabilitate Australian native animals.

A copy of the current WIRES Volunteer Personal Accident Insurance Table of Conditions can be provided on request.

By proceeding and submitting an application for membership or membership renewal I declare that the details above are true and correct and state that there are no legal, health or other reasons that would affect my performance or put at risk any other persons in my role as a volunteer of WIRES Ltd. I agree to abide by the conditions of membership as outlined above including Constitution, Code of Conduct, Code of Ethics and WHS Policies.