The recently formed organisation looks after mammals, birds and reptiles that have been hit by cars or mauled by cats and dogs and may be the only such group in Canberra that is community run and staffed entirely by volunteers.

President Marg Peachey said the ACT Wildlife had started out as a group of friends who shared an interest in caring for native animals.

They received a licence in April 2013 and by November began taking local creatures under their wing.

Now numbering 80 members, 20 of whom are actively caring, the group is also training newcomers how to rescue, rehabilitate and release animals back into the wild.

Ms Peachey is keeping nine flying foxes in a cage outside her home but some members who care for orphaned infant animals keep the babies indoors.

Those with full time jobs took on more low-maintenance animals, while retired carers often looked after the babies which required more attention, she said.

''We can gauge the skills [of members] and match the animals to them,'' she said.

Ms Peachey, who teaches courses in caring for animals at Canberra Institute of Technology, said most of the flying foxes had become caught in netting draped over fruit trees, which caused damage to their wings.

''People tend to just drape the net over a tree to be a bit of a barrier, but if you get a flying fox or even a bird landing on it, it can't take off because it's loose and they get caught up,'' she said.

Good quality, densely woven netting attached to a frame around the tree will keep birds and animals away from fruit without endangering them, she said.

''Stretch it tight over the frame you've built and tie it down close to the ground or across to the trunk of the tree, then they can land on it and they can take off from it,'' she said.

The RSPCA works in partnership with ACT Wildlife, providing veterinary services and medicine for injured animals.

RSPCA Wildlife operations manager for the ACT Simon Yates said the organisations cared for about 3000 animals each year, most of which were birds.

Caring for native animals was expensive and ACT Wildlife would welcome any donations through its website, Ms Peachy said.