Found an animal that needs help?
Find the right next step
Choose what you can see to find practical guidance and contact options. WARN does not operate an emergency dispatch service. If a person is in immediate danger, contact local emergency services.
Keep a safe distance and contact a professional. Contact options updated for Choose location / elsewhere.
Keep a safe distance and contact a professional
- Observe from a safe place and keep children and pets away. Do not approach large wildlife, bats, snakes, birds of prey, or sick or dead birds.
- Contact a wildlife rehabilitator, local wildlife authority or vet promptly. Describe visible injuries, breathing difficulty, entanglement or a collision without trying to diagnose the animal.
- Ask for species-specific instructions before handling, moving or feeding it. Do not enter a road, fire zone, railway or water to attempt a rescue.
Guidance: RSPCA: injured wildlife advice. Reviewed 8 September 2026.
Contact options
These independent services have their own areas, hours and capacity. For an injured dog or cat, call a local veterinary practice first. If you cannot reach a responder, try the local wildlife authority or another vet; do not wait for a reply from WARN.
What to tell a responder
Share the exact location or map pin, when you found the animal, what you can see and how to contact you. Take a photo only from a safe distance. Explain any nearby traffic, fire, water, people or pets so the responder can plan an appropriate response.
How do I donate to an animal shelter?
Donate to an animal shelter by matching the goal. For kennel rehoming near you, contact a registered rescue, humane society or council pound — the finder is shelter directory. For street dogs and meat-trade seizures abroad, give on this page by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay.
WARN is not a local animal protection society. It is a UK Community Interest Company that grants to vetted partners. If you searched "animal protection society" because you want a local branch, use the directory. If you searched it because you want international field work, stay here.
Please give money rather than food, toys or medicines from Britain unless a named partner has asked for a specific item in writing. The same rule applies to local shelters: they will tell you what they actually need this week.
How do I find a rescue shelter for dogs near me?
A rescue shelter for dogs near me is found on Maps, the Charity Commission register, or shelter directory. Type the search the way you would say it — "rescue shelter for dogs near me", "animal shelters near me with dogs", "dog and cat shelters near me". Check the charity number before you give or apply.
WARN cannot route a gift to a named pen in your postcode. If you are looking for a rescue dog to take home, stop here and use a local registered rescue. The adoption walkthrough is newsroom briefing. The shelter-trust walkthrough is newsroom briefing.
Guide 3
Dog and cat shelters near me versus programmes abroad
Dog and cat shelters near me take in stray, surrendered and seized companion animals and try to rehome them. That is essential work. It does not vaccinate a street-dog city or empty a meat-trade cage in Vietnam.
Street dogs in Karachi and cats seized from the meat trade need CNVR, TNVR and quarantine where they live. Give at Karachi street-dog appeal and dog and cat meat trade appeal. Symbolic adoption from £5/month is adopt a dog and adopt a cat. Dog-only one-off wording is donate to dog rescue.
Guide 4
Shelter capacity versus CNVR at scale
A shelter helps individual dogs and cats in care. CNVR stabilises free-roaming dog populations and vaccinates against rabies. TNVR does the colony job for cats. Shipping individual pets abroad cannot solve that scale.
Donation amounts are contributions, not verified prices for individual procedures or care days. It is a programme cost, not a named-dog invoice. Do not read a cat-surgery unit price on this page — WARN has no confirmed partner invoice for one cat sterilisation.
Is WARN an animal protection society?
No. "Animal protection society" usually means a local humane society, SPCA or cruelty-prevention charity with inspectors and a shelter. WARN does not run that model. Legal identity is at registration status. Programme spend target: where your money goes.
If you wanted a local animal protection society, give or volunteer there. If you wanted international partner grants for dogs and cats that will never sit in a UK kennel, give on this page.
Guide 6
Combining local and international giving
Many supporters donate to a local shelter for rehoming near them and give monthly to WARN for CNVR abroad. Both routes are valid. Combined-giving detail is donate local animal shelter abroad. Country context is where we work.