Youth & family
Junior Rescuers
Kids notice animals adults walk past. Junior Rescuers teaches young people how to turn that attention into real help — without ever putting themselves in danger.
The first rule of Junior Rescuers: get a grown-up.
Young people should never approach, touch, pick up, chase or carry an animal they find. Their job is to notice, stay back, and tell an adult. That is the whole job, and it's an important one.
The Junior Rescuer rules
- 1
Stop and stay back
Give the animal lots of space — further than feels necessary.
- 2
Tell a grown-up
A parent, teacher, or any trusted adult. Every time, no exceptions.
- 3
Don't touch
Not even a friendly-looking dog or a tiny baby bird.
- 4
Keep pets away
Your dog wants to investigate. Your dog should not investigate.
- 5
Remember details
Where exactly? What time? What was it doing? Details help responders.
- 6
Be calm and quiet
Yelling and crowding scare animals and can make things worse.
What we hope kids take with them
Junior Rescuers is about understanding why something matters, not just being told what to do.
- Life has value — animals and people both.
- Compassion comes with responsibility.
- Helping safely matters more than looking heroic.
- Doing the right thing is sometimes inconvenient.
- Small actions can matter.
- Understanding a problem is part of solving it.
- Animals deserve respect, not entertainment.
- Communities improve when people take care of what they can influence.
For parents and educators
Adult supervision always
All youth participation requires a parent or guardian. Young people are never assigned field response, transport, or animal handling.
Age-appropriate content
Sessions focus on observation, empathy, habitat, coexistence and safe reporting — not injury or rescue technique.
Classroom and group visits
We can bring a Junior Rescuers session to schools, scout troops, libraries and community groups.
Consent and privacy
We do not collect information from children without guardian consent, and we do not photograph minors without written permission.