Wildlife Rehabilitator Grants

Wildlife Rehabilitator Grants

The Wildlife Rehabilitator Grants program provides funding to support Victoria’s authorised wildlife rehabilitators.

The objectives of the program aim to help authorised wildlife shelter operators and foster carers to:

• improve the standard of wildlife care they provide
• improve their facilities to treat, house and rehabilitate wildlife for release
• increase their knowledge/skills in the care of wildlife.

Grants of up to $3,000 are available per wildlife shelter operator and up to $2,000 per eligible foster carer for equipment, infrastructure, consumables, education and training.

Guidelines

The 2025-26 Wildlife Rehabilitator Grants Guidelines:

• 2025-26 Wildlife Rehabilitator Grants Guidelines (webpage)
• 2025-26 Wildlife Rehabilitator Grants Guidelines (PDF, 869 KB)
• 2025-26 Wildlife Rehabilitator Grants Guidelines (DOCX, 3.88 MB)

Applications

Applications are submitted online using the Grants Online portal.

Attaching required documents:

Supporting documents must be in an acceptable file type, such as Word, Excel, PDF, or JPEG. The maximum file size for each file is 10MB.

You will receive a unique application number (GA-FRXXXX-XXXXX) when you submit an application online. Please write it down for future reference and quote it when communicating with the department about your application.

If you have documents to submit that cannot be attached to your online application, you can email them to grantsinfo@deeca.vic.gov.au quoting your application number. Attach all documents to one email, zipping the files if required.

Make sure your application is submitted by 3:00 pm on Tuesday, 2 December 2025 (AEST)

No hard copy applications will be accepted. Late and incomplete applications will not be considered.

Previous rounds

Since 2008, the Victorian Government has provided $3.6 million through Wildlife Rehabilitator Grants and Emergency Recovery Grants and Emergency Recovery Grants to support wildlife shelter operators and foster carers. The table below shows the annual support for our valued wildlife volunteers who house, feed and care for Victoria’s injured wildlife.

Contact

If you have questions about the Wildlife Rehabilitator Grants program, email our team on enviro.grants@deeca.vic.gov.au or phone our Customer Contact Centre on 136 186.