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:
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.
Wildlife Rehabilitator Grants (WRG) Funding Round | Number of successful applicants | Approved Funding |
WRG 2024-25 & 2025 Wildlife Recovery | 163 | $431,936 |
WRG 2023-24 | 112 | $230,603 |
WRG 2022-23 and 2022 flood support | 152 | $265,492 |
WRG 2021-22 | 144 | $292,361 |
WRG 2020-21 | 75 | $198,558 |
WRG 2019-20 and 2020 bushfire support | 129 | $187,607 |
WRG 2018-19 | 101 | $170,315 |
WRG 2017-18 | 107 | $166,609 |
WRG 2016-17 | 106 | $179,388 |
WRG 2015-16 and 2015 bushfire support | 128 | $166,248 |
WRG 2013-14 | 101 | $157,266 |
WRG 2012-13 | 110 | $176,901 |
WRG 2011-12 | 82 | $151,867 |
WRG 2010-11 | 107 | $195,878 |
WRG 2009-10 | 119 | $174,894 |
WRG 2008-09 (2 Rounds) | 130 | $476,264 |
Total | 1,866 | $3,622,187 |
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.