Nature Trust – FEE Malta is collecting donations for medication and equipment related to wildlife rescue and rehabilitation and has started a crowdfunding campaign to add more hedgehog road signs across Malta and Gozo.

On World Wildlife Day, commemorated every March 3, the eNGO is appealing to all to take care of local wildlife which is facing several threats resulting from an ever expanding human population that is straining the Earth and its biodiversity and resources.

“Consumerism, habitat loss and fragmentation, overdevelopment, pollution, introduction of alien and invasive species, climate change and overexploitation are all major threats across the globe that are also being observed in the Maltese Islands.

“Field observations and many reports have shown that local species are feeling the brunt of this lack of environmental care – wildlife has been found killed or injured on land and in our seas directly because of litter or pollution while other species are becoming rarer as they are being exploited for food. Genetically, Maltese biodiversity is also suffering as natural corridors between localities are being lost resulting in the increase of genetically linked diseases in populations that are decreasing in size and inbreeding with a limited number of individuals,” it warned.

NT-FEE Malta has been involved in the rescue and rehabilitation of wildlife since the early 1990s. Last year, just above 150 rescue calls were received, from which about 100 were hedgehogs and 44 were turtles, 16 of which were dead. Other wildlife rescued by NT-FEE Malta included bats, snakes and chameleons. Any injured wildlife can be reported on 9999 9505.