Advanced oiled wildlife responder training event in Belgium

EUROWA Network partner Wildlife Rescue Centre Ostend hosted an international Advanced Oiled Wildlife Responder event at their facility in Belgium earlier this year. This is the sixth time the EUROWA Advanced course has been run in Europe.

The event was organised thanks to funding from Aramco to support the further expansion and development of the EUROWA initiative and provide opportunities to roll out a number of international EUROWA courses. Thirteen trainees from five countries (Belgium, Estonia, Germany, Ireland and Poland) successfully completed the course. The course was delivered by three trainers from the EUROWA network, but an opportunity was created for two additional experts to qualify as a trainer for the Advanced course.

Several trainees expressed interest in moving up to the next EUROWA training levels to further their oiled wildlife response careers. The course evaluation also delivered an overwhelming number of positive reviews and comments:
“Great overview of what needs to be done in an oil spill”
“Structure was very good and easy to follow”
“Liked the skill labs, very realistic”
“Professional, experienced and prepared trainers – can help you or lead such a response when you are in a country where there is no wildlife response plan”
“Excellent organisation”

Those who completed the course are now able to perform tasks at the advanced level in an oiled wildlife response, meaning that they can apply the EUROWA protocol without supervision. Those trainees are also now qualified to deliver the BASIC course in their home countries, expanding the reach of the EUROWA Training Portfolio and increasing numbers of European oiled wildlife responders trained to the same standards.