About Us

We are a rescue, rehabilitation and public advice charity officially formed in 1995 by Sue Schwar as a result of there being no  wildlife care or rescue anywhere in the area.

Initially this began as an interest and was operating from her home, however demand was so high that she had to find a more suitable location.
This is how the hospital came to be formed and now runs from its current home in Orsett, Essex.

In our early days we were seeing only a few casualties each week, that number has now risen and we often get between 50 and 100 phone calls calls a day and frequently have 200-300 patients ( or more) in the Hospital at any one time

When the new Hospital and Education facilities are built, we will be able to deal with a lot more casualties and orphaned wildlife

No sick, injured or orphaned animal is turned away, requiring that the hospital operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Staffed by only a handful of dedicated volunteers and Sue herself, who often have to work in hazardous conditions, late at night and in adverse weather. We cannot always guarantee to come out and collect an animal but will always accept one brought to the South Essex Wildlife Hospital

We have the only animal ambulance and hospital facilities of its kind within our area, covering most of  Essex, East London and North Kent. The team will often travel much further, for example when the canoeists are required for a difficult swan rescue.

The cost of food, equipment, fuel and vets bills is met solely by public donations, for which we are extremely grateful. Without this valuable support, SEWH would cease to exist, and we would be unable to prevent the suffering of many stricken wild animals in urgent and desperate need of our help.

SEWH is not just in need of financial contributions, see our How you can HELP page for more information