non profit industry animal rescue and rehabilitation of wildlife . founded 1980 headquarters leatherhead surrey england united kingdom key people simon cowell mbe founder and current director chairman number of employees 5 staff plus 300 volunteers website www.wildlifeaid.org.uk the wildlife aid foundation is a charity dedicated to the rescue care and rehabilitation of sick injured and orphaned animals . based in leatherhead surrey uk the centre operates surrey county s only wildlife hospital 1 one of the three largest such hospitals in the uk 2 and maintains a referral service for wildlife hospitals throughout europe . 3 the organisation also carries out environmental activist 3 and educational roles . 1 4 wildlife aid has attracted media attention for its rescues of photogenic wild animals like young foxes 5 and baby badgers ; 6 animal planet s tv program wildlife sos chronicles the activities of wildlife aid volunteers as they rescue imperiled animals . contents 1 wildlife hospital 2 wildlife sos 3 see also 4 references 5 external links wildlife hospital edit wildlife aid got its start in 1979 when its founder simon cowell mbe acquired a farmhouse in leatherhead with the intention of starting a local wildlife rescue facility . 7 formally established a year later the centre s activities steadily increased in scale ; the hospital now treats more than 20 000 wild animals a year 7 returning 70 % of them to the wild . 2 it has saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of animals since the charity s formation in 1980 . the organisation currently operates on a budget of 350 000 per year 7 and relies on over 300 volunteers to provide an all year round service . 2 its facilities include two operating theatres a pathology lab and an intensive care unit . 7 the charity s longer term aim is to build a larger complex on a new site that will allow the expansion of the organisation s educational programmes ; the planned expansion would increase the facility s footprint to 10 acres 40 000 m2 rely heavily on eco friendly technology and be carbon neutral . 1 as of 11 november 2011 wildlife aid was reincorporated at the charity commission as the wildlife aid foundation wildlife sos edit main article wildlife sos tv show in 1996 following a fire that destroyed one third of the hospital complex cowell found his organisation reliant on media attention for its continued survival . 7 cowell was approached by representatives of the newly formed animal planet channel to produce a television series chronicling the drama of life in the wildlife rescue facility . the show was originally produced by cowell s wild productions but later directly by the foundation with cowell as the presenter . it experienced long term success ; it has been cited as the longest running animal rescue tv series . 8 see also edit the bionic vet another wild productions television series references edit a b c portlock jonathan 31 december 2008 . leatherhead s wildlife aid needs land from your local guardian . www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk . retrieved 2009 01 27 . a b c the big give about wildlife aid . www.thebiggive.org.uk . retrieved 2009 01 27 . a b save the badgers stop the badger cull black & white campaign . www.blackandwhite.info . retrieved 2009 01 27 . two thirds of uk drivers stop for injured animals . www.virgin records.co.za . 5 march 2005 . retrieved 2009 01 27 . curious fox gets stuck in wheel . www.metro.co.uk . 30 may 2007 . retrieved 2009 01 27 . baby badger saved from dog s jaws . news.bbc.co.uk . 2 march 2006 . retrieved 2009 01 27 . a b c d e gabbert euan . elmbridge online covering cobham esher oxshott walton and weybridge . www.elmbridge online.co.uk . retrieved 2009 01 27 . simon cowell mbe wildlife s.o.s television presenter and producer . www.gordonpoole.com . retrieved 2009 01 27 . external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title wildlife aid foundation & oldid 718520044 categories animal charities based in the united kingdomwildlife of the united kingdom1980 establishments in the united kingdomorganizations established in 1980organisations based in surreyhidden categories use dmy dates from february 2012use british english from february 2012 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 4 may 2016 at 00 38 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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