Elering Helps ELF to Build Aruküla Wild Animal Hospital

On October 4th, Elering AS and the Estonian Fund for Nature (Eestimaa Looduse Fond, ELF) signed a contract for the establishment of a hospital for wild animals in Aruküla. By the terms of the contract, Elering will grant ELF free use of the land and an old substation building, which will be rebuilt into the first wild animal hospital in Estonia and the Baltics.

In March of this year, ELF held a charity campaign that resulted in donations of nearly 4900 euros for the construction of a wild animal hospital. ELF’s project manager Agni Kaldma thanks the contributors and remains hopeful about further financing: “If everything goes according to plan, we will be able to start construction in 2014, and the hospital may open its doors as early as 2015.”

“Currently, there is no working treatment center of this kind in Estonia, nor in Latvia, Lithuania or Finland. In the conditions of continuing urbanization, the existence of such a treatment center is very important, as the decline of habitats results in forest animals increasingly ending up in human population centers, where they often get hurt,” added Kaldma.

“We recognize the significant impact of Elering’s business operations on the environment. As a responsible enterprise, we want to support efforts aimed at improving the natural and populated environments affected by our activities,” commented Taavi Veskimägi, Chairman of the Board of Elering.

Aruküla is an excellent location for the wild animal hospital, as most injured wild animals are found in the Tallinn and Harju County areas. Elering’s former substation building is sufficiently large, but needs to be rebuilt, and have utilities added. The project has been discussed with local residents, who expressed a positive attitude towards the hospital. The efforts are also supported by the administration and council of the Raasiku rural municipality.

ELF’s wild animal veterinarian Madis Leivits: “The area of operations of the upcoming ELF wild animal hospital will be broad. Primarily, of course, the treatment and rehabilitation of injured or sick wild animals, and their subsequent release into nature. Equally important is the environmental monitoring, as our patients will help us detect changes in the environment and wildlife populations, including malicious actions against nature and wildlife (waste dumping, poisoning, poaching, etc.). The ELF wild animal hospital will also engage in environmental education, polluted wildlife rescue during oil spills and other major disasters, as well as bringing together volunteers and cooperating closely with universities and other research institutions.”