Announcing our New Name!

We are thrilled to announce that we are changing our name to Yorkshire Dales Wildlife Rescue.  As the only wildlife rescue of its kind across many hundreds of square miles, we have rescued, rehabilitated and returned to the wild thousands of sick, injured and orphaned wild animals since we were established in 2019.  Most of our patients are endangered species or those facing conservation challenges e.g. red- or amber-listed mammals and birds of conservation concern (BoCC) and European protected species (EPS). 

“This is major news for us,” says Jane Carpenter, Co-Founder.  “It shows not only how much we have grown, but acknowledges the vital role we now play in this very special part of the UK. The Yorkshire Dales is a protected, living landscape, vital for biodiversity, and we are honoured to be one of the organisations at the forefront of protecting that.”

“When we started as a home-based operation, the North Yorkshire district of Craven was our patch,” adds Penny Hunt, Co-Founder.  “However, we now run a professional wildlife hospital, with some of the best release rates in the UK.  From curlews to cormorants, hedgehogs to harriers, badgers to bats, we care for the full range of Yorkshire Dales wildlife from right across the region. Now seems the perfect time to recognise this and launch our new name.

“We are keen, though, to reassure our supporters and wildlife living outside the Dales, particularly those in the Craven area that live outside the National Park boundary, that we remain as committed to them as we have always been.  In truth, the name change reflects our true scope as an organisation, as we are now, rather than any change in our offering.”

In January, we announced a steep rise in the number of injured and sick wild animals that are coming into our care.  In 2025, we took in over 750 mammals and birds - nearly double the amount of the previous year. There are a number of reasons for the growth including: increased demand across the Yorkshire Dales National Park and, due to the lack of facilities elsewhere, from the Forest of Bowland National Landscape, Cumbria, Lancashire and wider North and West Yorkshire; as well as the increasing toll that climate change and human activity is having on wildlife.  We were delighted to also announced that our release figures are way above the national average - increasing from 68% of those patients admitted in 2024 to 74% in 2025.  The UK national average is 42.6%.

Patrick Grant, our Patron, adds: “The UK’s wildlife is in a parlous state. The State of Nature 2023 report shows that about 1 in 6 of our native species are at risk of extinction. Through their outstanding clinical and rehabilitative care Penny, Jane and the team at Yorkshire Dales Wildlife Rescue are such an important force for the preservation of the precious wildlife of the National Park (and far beyond). And the new name is spot on; it says what they do and where they do it. Perfect.”

We recently learnt that the premises in which we are based is likely to be put up for sale.  The charity has been a tenant of the former Church of England Primary School at Horton in Ribblesdale for over a year, where we have created a professional wildlife hospital for the care and rehabilitation of our patients. The Anglican Diocese of Leeds has recently gained ownership of the school, which closed in 2017, and can sell the site following an application to the Secretary of State.  Last month, the Diocese confirmed that it was considering its next steps. 

We are delighted to have received support from Sir Julian Smith MP, who said we “play a vital role in protecting wildlife across the Dales”; and Councillor David Staveley, Councillor for Settle and Pen-y-ghent, who called us “a major player in wildlife rescue in the North [with] a vital role in the protection and conservation of species that are under threat.”

We will keep in touch with all our supporters as we learn more about our premises situation. In the meantime, please spread the word about our name change! If you would like to support our work, you can do so in a variety of ways. Please click here for more information. And if you would like to be in touch with us for any reason, please use our new email - hello@yorkshiredaleswildliferescue.com