Found an animal
Start again › A farmed animal › It is hurt, sick, or cannot move
What the RSPCA says to do
A small animal. The RSPCA says that more often than not the quickest and best way to help a small injured wild animal is to take it to your nearest vet yourself.
A larger animal. The RSPCA defines larger as bigger than a cat, or a waterbird the size of a gull or bigger, a bird of prey, or a sea bird. For those it says to call 0300 123 8960, and to make a note of the location.
If you do pick it up. The RSPCA says to use a box, to wear gloves, to keep your face away from the animal, and to wash your hands afterwards. It says to avoid any injuries or open wounds.
The RSPCA says a vet may decide that euthanasia is the best thing for the animal. It describes that as a difficult decision but often in the interest of an animal that is suffering. This site does not take a view on it.
Source: RSPCA: injured and sick wild animals. Quoted in substance and linked in full.
A vet at 3am: the RCVS Code of Professional Conduct requires all veterinary surgeons in practice to take steps to provide 24-hour emergency first aid and pain relief to animals, according to their skills and the specific situation. RCVS supporting guidance.
The Animal Welfare Act 2006 places a duty of care on a person responsible for an animal. Picking up an injured wild animal to take it to a vet does not make you responsible for it in that sense. Read section 4.
Organisations that take farmed animals in
Where are you?
England Wales Scotland Northern Ireland
Buttercups Sanctuary for Goats
No contact recorded
Also listed, without a species recorded
The research these listings came from recorded these organisations as taking wildlife, or several species, without saying which. They are not listed above because this site will not turn “wildlife” into a claim that a particular organisation takes a particular animal. Most are large and long-established. Ring before you travel.
Brinsley Animal Rescue
No contact recorded
Crosskennan Lane Animal Sanctuary
No contact recorded
Dean Farm Trust
No contact recorded
Farm Animal Rescue Sanctuary
No contact recorded
Footprints Animal Sanctuary
No contact recorded
Goodheart Animal Sanctuaries
Hillside Animal Sanctuary
RSPCA
Scottish SPCA
The Farm Animal Sanctuary
No contact recorded
The Retreat Animal Rescue
No contact recorded
Tribe Animal Sanctuary Scotland
No contact recorded
USPCA
Willows Animal Sanctuary
No contact recorded
Ranked by nation, not by distance: this directory records the region an organisation covers, not where it is, and inventing a location for a real organisation is not something this site will do. Distance ranking arrives with the postcode dataset. Capacity is shown only where the organisation itself confirmed it — “unknown” means nobody has said, not that it is full. Ring before you travel.
What this page is
Every instruction here is the RSPCA’s or the law’s, named and linked. None of it is this site’s own advice, and there is none to give: the people who can help are a vet, the RSPCA, and the organisations listed. If something here disagrees with what a vet tells you, the vet is in front of the animal and this page is not.
Last reviewed 24 August 2026. In an emergency the RSPCA’s line is 0300 123 8960.
This is a description of the law, not legal advice. Every row links to the primary source and carries the date it was last checked. Check the source before relying on it — general licences are reissued each January and commencement dates move.