What Your Public Animal Report Form Looks Like to the Public

Opening the Form

When someone opens your form – embedded on your website, from a link you shared, or by scanning your QR code – they first see your organization's profile photo and name beneath the heading Found a wild animal?. If you set a Pre-submit message, it appears right here, so this is a good place to ask people to call you first in an emergency or remind them not to handle the animal.

Answering the Questions

The visitor only sees the fields you turned on, grouped into the same sections you configured: About the animal, Where it was found, Circumstances, and About you. (Note that the reporter section is labeled About you on the public form.) Fields you marked Required must be filled in before the form can be submitted; Optional fields can be skipped.

A few fields behave in helpful ways for the visitor:

• The State/Province question is a dropdown built from your organization's country, so reporters pick from a familiar list rather than typing.
• If you enabled Photos, the reporter could attach pictures of the animal right from their phone.

Built-in Protection

Your form includes built-in spam and bot protection that works quietly in the background. A legitimate reporter simply fills out the form and submits – there is nothing for them (or you) to configure.

Submitting the Report

When the visitor clicks Submit report, they see a confirmation screen: Thanks — your report has been received. along with a reference code under Save this reference code for your records:. If you set a Post-submit message, it appears on this screen and is also included in the confirmation email the reporter receives. If you added a Donation URL, a Donate button appears here as well.

Behind the scenes, the submission lands in your private review queue – see Reviewing and Approving Public Animal Reports for what happens next on your side.

Reporting Another Animal

If the visitor found more than one animal, they can click Report another animal to return to a fresh, empty form without reloading the page.

If Something Goes Wrong

If a submission can't go through, the reporter sees a friendly message rather than a technical error – for example, asking them to try again, or letting them know if too many reports have come from their network in a short time. They can simply try again.

It All Reflects Your Settings

Everything above – which questions appear, the colors, your photo and name, the messages, and the donation button – comes straight from the choices you make in Setting Up Your Public Animal Report Form. Reviewing the form as the public sees it is a good final step before you share it.