Rehabilitation centres for wild animals
Establishing and running a rehabilitation centre for wild animals requires obtaining a permit from the General Director for Environmental Protection (Art. 75 par. 1 of the Nature Conservation Act). The permit is issued after submitting an application form which includes (Art. 75 par. 2 of the Nature Conservation Act):
- the applicant's name and address or the company's name and address or registered office,
- location of the centre,
- specification of the animals treatment and rehabilitation space,
- the list of species or groups of animal species which can be treated or rehabilitated in the centre, including Polish (if they exist) and Latin names of species or higher systematic names of groups of animal species,
- the name of the person responsible for running the centre,
- information on the possibility of providing medical-veterinary care,
- the opinion of the local commune council.
The conditions of keeping animals in the centre should correspond to their biological need in the time of treatment and rehabilitation. Regional director for environmental protection can subsidize the animals treatment and rehabilitation in the centre from their own budget means. Animals undergoing treatment and rehabilitation cannot be sold.
At least once per 3 years the regional director for environmental protection responsible for the area where the centre is located on his own initiative or on the initiative of the General Director for Environmental Protection carries out a control of the centre's activities.
The permit for running the rehabilitation centre may be also cancelled by the General Director for Environmental Protection in the case of failure in meeting the standard conditions for animals treatment and rehabilitation corresponding to species biological needs or failure in removing, in the period of time assigned by the General Director for Environmental Protection, irregularities found during the control conducted by the regional director for environmental protection. In such a case the rehabilitation centre is subject to liquidation and the person responsible for managing the centre has to provide the animals receiving treatment and rehabilitation in the centre with the conditions corresponding to their biological needs.
The Environmental Protection Act, apart from the aforementioned regulations, specifies the criminal provisions concerning the rehabilitation centres for wild animals (Art. 131 par. 2 and 3 of the Environmental Protection Act).