Terms and Conditions of Individual Associate Membership

1. Associate Membership Applications
  1. Applications for associate membership will be considered by the BWRC who have the right to refuse applications.
  2. By submitting an application form by email, the Associate Member is deemed to have signed the application form.
  3. All information provided by you to us must be true and accurate at the point of applying. In the event of a change of circumstances such as moving jobs, change of contact details you must notify the BWRC by phone, email or in writing so that our records are up to date.
2. Membership Payments, Renewals and Cancellations
  1. Associate Membership is £15 per person per calendar year starting on 1st April. Associate Membership will be activated at point of approval of the application but payment must be received within 30 days of application.
  2. Payment can be made by cheque, BACS or Standing Order. If Associate Membership payment remains outstanding we will notify you by telephone, email or letter.
  3. It is the member’s responsibility to advise the BWRC of their intention not to renew. Subscription payments not received within one month of becoming due will result in the membership being considered lapsed and all services or benefits may be suspended pending payment. However, Associate Membership charges will continue to accrue, until resignation is received in writing, subject to the cancellation procedure outlined below. To cancel your membership you will need to notify us in writing stating a reason which will be recorded for internal use only. Refunds will not be given for cancelled memberships.
Individual Associate Membership rights and responsibilities.
  1. Associate individual non-voting membership of the BWRC does not count as membership for legal purposes; therefore Associate Members do not have any voting rights, legal obligations to act in the interests of the BWRC, or any liability to contribute to the assets of the BWRC on dissolution.
  2. Associate membership belongs to the individual and not to the organisation regardless of who pays for the membership. Any dispute arising from this must be resolved by the member and their organisation. You will be issued with a membership number which you should use when calling us to help identify you quickly.
  3. It is the Associate Member’s responsibility to keep their membership number confidential. The BWRC reserves the right to withdraw Membership or to prevent any Member from renewing if the Member is misusing the membership benefits (for example, allowing someone else to use the benefits of their membership package).
4. Associate Membership Benefits
  1. Associate Member benefits are only available if subscription payments are up to date.
  2. Associate Member benefits may change without notice.
  3. Associate Members are permitted to use the BWRC Associate Member logo (not the Associate Organisation logo) for the purposes of self-promotion, but not for the promotion of a wider organisation.
  4. If an Associate Member is found to have contravened the terms and conditions stated in 4.3 membership may be terminated by the BWRC without prior warning.
5. Terminating Membership
  1. The BWRC reserves the right to withdraw membership or to prevent any Associate Member from renewing membership if the Member brings the BWRC into disrepute.
  2. The BWRC reserves the right to withdraw membership if the Associate Member is deemed to have misused the membership privileges.
6. Variation of Terms & Conditions
  1. These terms and conditions may be revised from time to time. If they are revised, we will post or email the revised version to you. It will be your responsibility to keep up-to date with all such changes and your continued membership shall be deemed acceptance of any changes to these terms and conditions.

Terms and Conditions of Individual Associate Membership

1. Associate Organisation Membership (AOM) Applications
  1. Applications for AOM will be considered by the BWRC who have the right to refuse applications.
  2. By submitting an application form by email, the AOM is deemed to have signed the application form.
  3. All information provided by you to us must be true and accurate at the point of applying. In the event of a change of circumstances the AOM must notify the BWRC by phone, email or in writing so that our records are up to date.
  4. Associate Organisations are required to provide evidence of engagement in external staff and/or volunteer development relevant to wildlife rehabilitation (this must be external to the associate organisation but does not have to be a BWRC event). BWRC reserves the right to withhold/ withdraw membership in the absence of adequate evidence of CPD (a minimum of one event every two years).
2. Associate Organisation Membership Payments, Renewals and Cancellations
  1. Associate Organisation Membership costs £75 per organisation per calendar year starting on 1st April. Membership will be activated once the application has been approved and the first payment has been received.
  2. Payment can be made by cheque, BACS or Standing Order. If Associate Membership payment remains outstanding we will notify you by telephone, email or letter.
  3. It is the AOM’s responsibility to advise the BWRC of their intention not to renew. Subscription payments not received within one month of becoming due will result in the membership being considered lapsed and all services or benefits may be suspended pending payment. However, AOM charges will continue to accrue, until resignation is received in writing, subject to the cancellation procedure outlined below. To cancel your membership you will need to notify us in writing stating a reason which will be recorded for internal use only. Refunds will not be given for cancelled memberships.
3. Associate Membership Rights
  1. AOM of the BWRC does not count as membership for legal purposes; therefore Associate Organisations do not have any voting rights, legal obligations to act in the interests of the BWRC, or any liability to contribute to the assets of the BWRC on dissolution.
  2. AOM belongs to the organisation regardless of who pays for the membership. Any dispute arising from this must be resolved within the Associate Organisation. The Organisation will be issued with a membership number which you should use when calling us to help identify you quickly.
  3. It is the Associate Organisation’s responsibility to keep their membership number confidential. The BWRC reserves the right to withdraw Membership or to prevent any Member from renewing if the Member is misusing the membership benefits (for example, allowing someone from outside of the organisation to use the benefits of their membership package).
4. Associate Membership Benefits
  1. Associate Organisations are permitted to use the BWRC Associate Organisation logo for the purposes of self-promotion on any of their organisational materials, including website.
  2. Associate Organisations are entitled to purchase an unlimited number of tickets for BWRC events at the membership price, providing that those tickets are for the exclusive use of paid staff or regular volunteers for the Associate Organisation
  3. BWRC will provide e-mail notifications to up to 10 e-mail addresses within the associate organisation. The associate organisation is then free to circulate BWRC notifications to other staff and volunteer members of the associate organisation.
  4. BWRC may agree to promote events organised by the Associate Organisation if asked to do so, at the discretion of the BWRC board of trustees
  5. AOM benefits are only available if subscription payments are up to date.
  6. AOM benefits may change without notice.
5. Terminating Membership
  1. The BWRC reserves the right to withdraw membership or to prevent any Associate Organisation from renewing membership if the Associate Organisation risks bringing the BWRC into disrepute.
  2. The BWRC reserves the right to withdraw membership if the Associate Organisation is deemed to have misused the membership privileges.
  3. If an Associate Organisation is found to have contravened the terms and conditions stated in 5.1 and 5.2, above membership may be terminated by the BWRC without prior warning.
1. Variation of Terms & Conditions
  1. These terms and conditions may be revised from time to time. If they are revised, we will post or email the revised version to you. It will be your responsibility to keep up-to date with all such changes and your continued membership shall be deemed acceptance of any changes to these terms and conditions.

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Mustelids And COVID-19

It is generally accepted that SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) has spilled into the human population from a wildlife reservoir, likely bats. In recent months human to ferret, ferret to ferret, human to mink, mink to mink and mink to human transmission have all been demonstrated. The ability of an animal to become infected with COVID-19 is a result of the shape of certain receptors on cells in the lining of the respiratory tract (ACE2 receptors). The shape of these receptors tends to be similar in related species, meaning the species closely related to ferrets and mink could potentially be at risk of infection.

Ferrets have shown to become infected by human owners who are COVID-19 positive. These ferrets become unwell, with a fever, and loss of appetite. While unwell ferrets can pass infection to other ferrets via direct contact, there has been no proven transmission from a ferret back to a human. 

Mink have been infected via contact with infected workers in an intensive farming situation. These mink become unwell, and an increased mortality rate is noted. Mink can infect other mink via direct (same cage) and indirect (adjacent cage) contact. Within the captive mink population, a mutation in SARS-CoV-2 occurred, which has been passed back into the human population. Humans are able to pass this infection to other humans. Immunity to the original SARS-CoV-2 does not give good immunity to the mink mutation form. Currently the mink mutation SARS-CoV-2 is not circulating in the UK, and 17 million mink in Denmark and the Netherlands have been culled in order to stop the spread of this mutation within the captive and to the wild mink population.

Within the wildlife rehabilitation situation, it may become important to understand the implications of SARS-CoV-2 potentially spilling into an alternative wildlife reservoir and to take appropriate steps to avoid this. Mustelids such as mink, polecats, otters, pine martens and weasels are all potential candidates, although those species that are more habituated to living near humans would present the greatest risk.

While the risk of spread into wildlife is small, we know from our experience with badgers and tuberculosis in the UK, and raccoon/skunk and rabies in the US that the potential for a wildlife reservoir should be avoided if possible. It is essential that wildlife rehabilitators take appropriate steps to avoid infection within their facilities.

Steps that a wildlife rehabilitation centre should consider:

  1. Isolating all ferrets/polecats from other mustelids.
  2. Any staff showing clinical signs should self-isolate, and the importance of these staff not coming into contact with mustelids (eg in a foster or hand-rearing situation) should be emphasised.
  3. Suitable PPE should be used in all cases and changed between mustelid patients.
  4. Cage furniture should not be shared between mustelid patients. Any cage furniture that is re-usable (such as bowls, litter trays) should be cleaned and then disinfected between patients. Cage furniture that cannot be adequately cleaned (ie anything wooden) should be discarded after use.

REFERENCES

Gautam A et al (2020) Susceptibility to SARS, MERS and COVID-19 from an animal health perspective. Open Vet J 2020, Aug 10(2):164-177

Heegaard PMH et al (2020) Animal models for COVID-19: More to the picture than ACE2, rodents, ferrets and non-human primates. A case for porcine respiratory coronavirus and the obese Ossabaw pig. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb2020.573756

Kim Y et al (2020) Infection and rapid transmission of SARS CoV2 in ferrets. Cell Host Microbe 27, 704.e2

Khatri I et al (2020) Blocking the high-affinity interaction synapse between SARS CoV2 spike and human ACE2 proteins likely requires multiple high-affinity antibodies: an immune perspective. Frontl Immunol 2020; 11:570018

Kutter JS et al (2020) SARS CoV and SARS CoV2 are transmitted through the air between ferrets over more than one meter distance. bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.10.19.3453636

Manes C et al (2020) Could mustelids spur COVID-19 into a panzootic? Veterinaria Italiana 09 Sept 2020 DOI:10.12834/vetit.2375.13627.1

Munnink BBO et al (2020) Anthropozoonotic and zoonotic transmission of SARS CoV 2 on mink farms. bioRxiv  doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.09.01.277152

Oreshkova N et al, (2020) SARS CoV 2 infection in farmed minks, the Netherlands April & May 2020. Euro Surveill. 2020;25(23):pii=2001005

Sawatzki K et al (2020) Ferrets not infected by SARS CoV2 in a high exposure domestic setting. bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.08.21.254995