Capacity building continues in the Netherlands – ADVANCED training on Texel

On 11-14th November, 12 responders and volunteers from Dutch wildlife response organisations took part in a EUROWA ADVANCED oiled wildlife responder training course, organised by network member SON-Respons and hosted by Ecomare.

The course was held at Ecomare’s facility on the island of Texel in the Netherlands and delivered by EUROWA trainers Isabelle Allemeersch and Claude Velter of Wildlife Rescue Centre Ostend, along with Monique de Vrijer and Hetty Sinnema from SON-Respons, who are now qualified as ADVANCED trainers. Trainees completed the facility sections of the ADVANCED course.

‘Roboduck’ was used during the intake practical module of the course, to give a more realistic feel to trainees on animal handling; and also during the pools training session where trainees learned methods and tactics for feeding and capturing birds on pools. The trainers reflected after the event that, as most of the trainees already had experience in dealing with oiled birds in a wildlife rehabilitation facility, this brought more of an atmosphere of participation to the event, bringing the Dutch rehabilitation centre staff closer together.

24 responders are now trained at ADVANCED level in the Netherlands, providing a solid base level work force who can apply wildlife rehabilitation protocols during an incident and provide supervision of volunteers.