About us
An emergency rescue team for animals, birds and wildlife, working across Gujarat since 2012.
Who we are
Rescue Foundation is an organisation dedicated to rescuing animals and birds in need — those trapped or stranded — and to education.
Our emergency rescue team works day and night to rescue, treat and rehabilitate trapped, injured and sick wildlife, as well as the voiceless animals and birds that live among us in urban areas.
Who runs it
Maheshbhai Manubhai Patel
Founder and President
An animal rescuer himself, and the person who answers the helpline.
- Working since
- February 29, 2012
- Registered
- May 16, 2016
- Rescue helpline
- +91 80005 35253
- Office address
- A/26, Vandana Park Society Part 1Hirawadi Road, Saijpur BoghaAhmedabad 382345Gujarat, India
Our journey
-
2012
The work begins
Rescue Foundation is established to rescue animals and birds in need — those trapped or stranded — and to educate.
-
2015
Thanked by the Forest Department
A Certificate of Appreciation from the Gujarat Forest Department for treating birds injured by kite string during Uttarayan in Ahmedabad, in the Save Bird Campaign of 2014–15.
-
2016
Registered
The organisation is formally registered.
-
2017
Karuna Abhiyan
A Certificate of Appreciation from the Forest Department for the Karuna Abhiyan, the state’s campaign for birds injured during Uttarayan — the team has taken part again in 2019 and in every year from 2021 to 2026.
-
2023
A treatment centre in Valsad
In Karuna Abhiyan 2023 the team helped run a bird treatment centre in Valsad district, and was commended for it by Gujarat’s Forest ministers.
-
2024
A letter from the Chief Minister
The Chief Minister of Gujarat, Shri Bhupendra Patel, writes to commend the team’s rescues of animals, birds and snakes, and its care of birds injured during Uttarayan.
-
2025
Commended on Independence Day
A certificate of commendation from the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Dr A. P. Singh, at the 79th Independence Day celebration in Gandhinagar, for outstanding work in wildlife and environment conservation in Ahmedabad district.
-
2025–26
One lakh children
Safe Uttarayan guidance delivered to around one lakh children across Gujarat — reaching 25,000 students, 440 teaching staff and 389 government and private schools.
-
Today
15,000 rescued
Around 15,000 animals, birds and reptiles rescued since 2012, and around 3,000 rescue operations in wells, borewells, drains and nets.
Our mission
Our mission is to establish a harmonious coexistence between people and nature through the protection, rescue, treatment, rehabilitation and safe release of wildlife, animals and birds. Our primary responsibility is to rescue creatures that are trapped, injured, sick, in distress, or that have strayed into human settlements — promptly, safely, scientifically and humanely — and to provide them with the treatment and care they need.
An important part of our mission is to make a 24-hour emergency rescue service available wherever it is needed, in both cities and villages, and to carry out rapid rescue and relief operations for animals, birds and wildlife affected by natural and man-made disasters. We work to safely rescue a wide range of wild animals — including snakes, monitor lizards, crocodiles, mongooses, nilgai, porcupines and monkeys — and, after appropriate treatment and rehabilitation, to release them at a safe site suited to their species and natural habitat.
Working in close coordination with the Forest Department, the Animal Husbandry Department, government agencies, local self-government bodies, the police, disaster management authorities, educational institutions and other social organisations for the welfare of rescued creatures is also integral to our mission.
To reduce human-wildlife conflict, we give equal importance to public awareness alongside scientific rescue methods, working to lessen people’s fear of wildlife and to build understanding, sensitivity and responsibility in its place. We promote bird conservation through rescue camps for injured birds, the Karuna Abhiyan, and treatment and rehabilitation programmes.
We undertake programmes for the conservation of the environment and biodiversity — tree plantation, protection of natural resources, water bowls, bird nests and the provision of shelter where it is needed. We also hold training sessions and camps on nature education, wildlife awareness, snake conservation and compassion for all living beings in schools, colleges, communities and rural areas.
We are building a responsible volunteer network in order to develop trained manpower in the field of rescue and conservation, with capacity building in rescue technique, safe handling, first aid and disaster rescue. Alongside this, we research and document information from rescue operations and wildlife conservation so that it can inform future conservation work.
Our mission is not merely to save lives, but to build a society that carries compassion, responsibility and a sense of coexistence towards every living being.
Our vision
Our vision is to build a society and an environment in which every animal, bird and wild creature has the right to live safely, and in which the relationship between people and nature rests not on fear but on understanding, sensitivity and coexistence.
We want to see Gujarat grow into a state where timely, scientific rescue services are available for wildlife, animals and birds, and where a trained rescue team can reach every creature in distress quickly. When contact between people and wildlife increases in our cities and villages, our vision is that scientific understanding and safe rescue take priority over fear, rumour or harm.
We envisage a system in which every rescue is not merely an act of saving, but extends through proper treatment and rehabilitation to the safe release of the creature back into its natural habitat — with appropriate conservation and rehabilitation arrangements developed for every species, from snakes to crocodiles, from monitor lizards to nilgai, monkeys, porcupines, birds and other wildlife.
Looking ahead, our vision is to build a strong Wildlife Rescue and Emergency Response Network that brings together government departments, NGOs, local institutions, experts and trained volunteers, and to establish rapid, coordinated rescue and relief arrangements for animals and birds during natural disasters such as floods, heavy rain, cyclones, fire and drought.
We want to make education the most powerful tool of conservation, developing a scientific outlook towards nature and wildlife among school and college students, young people, volunteers and citizens at large. It is our dream to establish a Nature and Wildlife Education Centre where people do not merely receive information, but learn to act responsibly towards nature.
We envisage a volunteer network able to act in a trained, responsible and coordinated way in times of crisis, and we intend to research and document what we learn from rescue operations so that future policy, education and conservation work becomes more effective.
We also want to extend environmental conservation beyond tree plantation alone, connecting it with the protection of biodiversity, water, natural habitats and the ecosystem as a whole.
A fear-free society, safe wildlife, and a thriving natural world.
A society in which no creature is treated as an enemy simply because it has wandered into a human settlement, but is instead protected with proper understanding and a scientific approach.
A society in which every citizen becomes a guardian of nature, and in which the generations to come inherit a living, healthy environment rich in biodiversity.
Read next
-
What we do
Snakes and crocodiles, injured birds, animals down a borewell, and the education work that means fewer of them get hurt in the first place.
-
Our impact
What the team has done since 2012, and who has recognised it.
-
Support our work
Where a contribution goes, in the trust’s own words.
-
Contact us
The helpline, the office, and how to reach us about anything that is not an emergency.