Animals and plants in nature have an innate value and contribute significantly upon many aspects of human prosperity and sustainable living, promoting our ecological, economical, scientific, educational and cultural growth.

Many years before the global community “re-discovers” the necessity to protect the environment, all the more so with the environmental education, the Scout Movement has already set nature at the core of the educational and awareness raising activities for millions of young scouts all around the world. “A Scout is a friend to animals” reads in the Scout Law.

The Scouts of Greece proudly initiated as from last year the “Wildlife Rescue Scout Team”, a dedicated project to wildlife rescue efforts, launched on March 3rd, the World Wildlife Day.

The Wildlife Rescue Scout Team states the strategic planning and effort of the Scouts of Greece to broaden the field of positive community intervention and participation. By responding and contributing to the rescue procedures regarding injured, orphaned and abandoned mammals, birds, reptiles, marine animals etc., we become an important factor for wildlife protection and an ally to the environmental organizations and Rescue Centers in Greece.

Rescuing wildlife asks for a unique set of skills, very different from those required to treat pets. The equipment, the handling, the way of capture and the level of treatment provided to a wild animal can make the difference between life and death.

The Scouts of Greece have been active in more than 350 decentralized local communities in the country, undertaking a variety of projects related directly or indirectly to ecosystems; the bone structure of the organization, the experience and the connection with nature make Scouts the optimum organization to train its members to skillfully take care of the wild animals.

Getting active with friends is better and has a greater impact, therefore, the “Wildlife Rescue Scout Team” joined forces with relevant major organizations that protect wildlife animals in the country, namely “Anima”, “Arcturos”, “Archelon”,

“Mom”, “Arion” and has been funded with €50.000 by the Green Fund (public-law entity reporting to the Ministry of Environment and Energy).

Until today, there have been 4 training seminar meetings around Greece with a total of 100 participants (from 40 different scout units), who received training on helping injured wildlife animals.

Nature is crucial for every country and for Greece in particular. Greece has thousands of kilometers of coastline and numerous islands as well as big, remote mountains where wild animals can live and survive on their own.

Nature is the basis of the sustainable future of our societies, on which we can create a meaningful living for our families and our communities. To this direction, the “Wildlife Rescue Scout Team” seeks to become a useful tool and “cultivate from within” the younger generations to elaborate, to get more involved in the protection of the wildlife and nature in general and forge a sustainable living mindset.

This team focuses and builds on cooperation, team synergies and primarily volunteers who wish to help and invest their time and energy into it. These volunteers are multipliers of knowledge, practices and experiences inside their local scout groups and communities and themselves create new informal networks of future wildlife rescuers. They are the keystone of a better world.

It is also with particular satisfaction and honor that we present the Award received by the Scouts of Greece for the “Wildlife Rescue Scout Team” project, in the framework of Bravo Sustainability Awards, under the axis Bravo Environment, on December 18th 2019. The Bravo Environment axis recognizes and supports those initiatives and actions directly related to the protection of natural environment and biodiversity and are linked with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) No 14 (Life Underwater) and No 15 (Life on Land).