Everywhere in the world, we can observe and be touched by acts of kindness. People from all walks of life, faiths, and cultures extend themselves beyond the call of duty to help others unconditionally. Through their noble deeds, humanity as a whole is elevated.

To commend virtuous actions and encourage more people to be inspired by their examples, Supreme Master Ching Hai has lovingly created a series of awards, including the Shining World Leadership Award, Shining World Compassion Award, Shining World Hero and Heroine Awards, Shining World Honesty Award, Shining World Protection Award, Shining World Intelligence Award, and Shining World Inventor Award, to recognize some of the most exemplary, generous, caring, and courageous people who walk amongst us.

Secret World Wildlife Rescue in Somerset, UK specializes in the rescue, rehabilitation and eventual release of sick, injured and orphaned wild animals. On average, this marvelous group helps over 4,000 of our animal friends each year. Secret World has the distinction of being the only 24-hour a day, seven-day a week wildlife rescue center in South West England. As part of their educational outreach program, Secret World staff members visit local schools to help children learn about nature and encourage them to protect wildlife.

Founded in 1992 by Pauline and Derek Kidner, Secret World has gained national recognition for its work, winning the British Broadcasting Corporation’s (BBC’s) Animal Country Award in 1995, and has also been featured on numerous TV programs in the UK. In 2001 Ms. Kidner was nominated for the BBC Animal Award because of her great contributions to the cause of animal welfare. For its tender, caring work with animals in need, Supreme Master Ching Hai also honored Secret World Wildlife Rescue with the Shining World Compassion Award.

It’s just grown and grown. We now actually deal with between four- and five-thousand wildlife animals every year. We have a wonderful, dedicated team of staff which makes sure that care is always of a very good standard. But also they are supported by many volunteers who we couldn’t run without. And they help us in many ways because obviously it’s not just looking after the animals, it’s helping with the maintenance. So, we’re very lucky that we’re supported by volunteers with all that we do.

Let’s now meet some of Secret World’s fascinating residents.

Our first stop is the home of the sanctuary’s friendly foxes, who, because they are tame, have become permanent residents.

We've got a nice, big pen here. These are foxes that that have been people's pets, and then they realized that they don't make very good pets. But they've got a nice lot of space here. They've got a shed that they can go into. But they also can dig their own sets if they want to, to go in as well. So they can do all the natural things that they would normally do.

We now move on to the facility’s avian residents, including a loving bird friend who lives there full time.

This one is Twinks. And she’s a Tawny (owl) that somebody kept as a pet for eight years and then didn't want her anymore. And she was passed on to us. But she's lovely. She's so vocal and loves going out and meeting people, which is really great.

And we've got some nice volunteers that come in, and even on days when they don't go out to schools, they come and they take them out, and walk them around the fields and different things, because they’re what we call imprinted birds. They’re birds that think that they are human beings. So they want human contact. And that's what we're able to give them, which is lovely.

Twinks, what you doing, Twinks?

Other birds have temporary homes at the sanctuary, and when the time is right, some will be released by the staff back into their native habitats, while others will leave on their own.

These are different animals that come in to us for different reasons. They’re ones that people don't want and birds that suddenly appear on reserves where they shouldn't be. In fact, that's where the turkeys have come from, the two female turkeys. And also when we get lots of baby ducklings, very often we put them into this pen, and they can fly off when they're ready to go during the summer. And we find that many of them do in fact fly back in the winter, because they know there's going to be a food source here. So that's why there are so many Mallards out there.

Injured and sick animals brought to the center are splendidly cared for by nurse Sara Cohen. One of her current patients is a little Hedgehog.

I'm the veterinary nurse and the animal welfare manager at Secret World. And I basically treat the patients that come in, minor operations and procedures if they need anything. And this is pretty much where we work at the moment.

So we're going to have a look at a little Hedgehog that came in earlier on. He seems to have a wound in his back. Someone just found him in the garden last night. So we're going to get him out, give him an anesthetic and clean his wound up. We've had loads of Hedgehogs in this year. Through the winter, we’ve probably got about 70 or so Hedgehogs. And they just come in for various different reasons; underweight, maybe not going to survive the winter or hibernation.

But this one, as you can see, he’s got a little wound on the back. Yes, we’re going to give him a light anesthetic, because the problem with Hedgehogs is they roll up into a ball, so tight, and you can’t actually access anything to check them over. So you need to give them an anesthetic in order to be able to check the legs and that there is no other injuries. But also this probably would be quite sore to clean up if we didn’t give him an anesthetic. So now he’s come around from the anesthetic.

What we’ll to do is we’re going to pop him into the hospital and we’re going to carry on treating the wound every day, keeping it nice and clean and also put him on some antibiotics for a few days, just in case there’s some infection. But he looks quite happy now. There we go.

A beautiful, young swan or cygnet needing some loving attention and care also arrived at Secret World Wildlife Rescue.

This is a little cygnet that came in with an injury underneath his wing. We’re not really sure what’s happened to him, but it’s quite a nasty wound. We’ve been treating him again trying to get it to heal nicely. But he seems to have got a little swelling on his face as well at the moment. See, he had some wounds here, just on the side of his face, just in there, probably like fishing line or something that’s sort of scissored across the mouth. So that one’s healed alright. It’s just a little bit soft, isn’t it? Just there, it feels a little bit puffy, but nothing to be worried about.

I’ve got a little bat. And he is a Noctule bat, so although he’s quite small, he is actually very big, which sounds a bit strange. But he’s the largest type of British bat that we actually get in our countryside. So during the winter he would usually be hibernating.

He’s one of the three mammals that hibernate in the UK. So he would be usually fast asleep. But because I keep him indoors, in my house rather than outside, that means that he’s not hibernating. And he’s also being fed every day. So that’s why he’s still with us at the moment, if you know what I mean.

I’ve had him since he’s been a baby. So he’s one that I look after at home, that I use to talk to children about, and talk to visitors about as well.

Please join us again tomorrow for the concluding episode in our two-part series on Secret World Wildlife Rescue, which will feature further excerpts from our interview with the kind Ms. Pauline Kidner and the presentation of the Shining World Compassion Award to this wonderful organization.

For more details on Secret World Wildlife Rescue, please visit

Precious viewers, thank you for your presence today on our program. Coming up next is Enlightening Entertainment, after Noteworthy News. May Providence forever protect all animals.