A massive thankyou to everyone that donated towards the treatment of the emergency cat intakes at the weekend. The 2 that were dumped at the top of the drive had blood tests yesterday and are now both booked in for neuters and vaccinations. Here they are waiting for volunteers to turn up so they can have cuddles and because they are currently having to reside in our volunteer room they are getting lots of fuss and cuddles. Both have been reserved which is great news.
#neuterpets #neutercats #adoptdontshop
This year we have admitted more waterfowl than any previous years. We have now successfully reared and released 30 mallards with 7 more in our care, we have also successfully reared and released 6 greylag geese, including this pair released this week. We still have 3 more greylags which will go this weekend.
Of the 9 greylag geese, 6 were siblings', they were brought to us as tiny goslings, sadly their mother was hit by a car as she crossed a road with her broad. We hope mum was looking down on her family, now healthy, living in the wild.
Another 4 Mallard ducks released this week, bringing the total to over 20 released this season. We have two more groups at different ages in our care which will be released in the coming weeks.
The boys Speedy and Freddie bonding, with Gracie getting on with life in the background.
The babies don’t stop coming in and we’ve had to double up on heat pad, incubator and cage space with our little orphans. Baby song birds, baby hedgehogs and ducklings are still coming in and keeping us busy as wildlife have second broods that are getting into difficulty and need our help.
#wildlifehospital
Update - The new born fallow fawn we took in nearly three weeks ago is doing well. She arrived having been found trapped in a wire fence shortly after birth.
We are still treating her wounds, it is taking some time to heal, however it's stopped getting worse, the healing is now in process.
As deer get very stressed, hand rearing is particularly difficult especially during the initial stages, we are not mum! She was a very reluctant feeder taking only a small amount, we were feeding her from dawn until dusk. Now, although thankfully still very wild, she is drinking well.
Deer are herd animals, it's important that we get her with other fawns of the same species as soon as we can and minimise all human contact. Once her wound gets the all clear, she has a bit of a journey to another rescue to join two other Fallow deer fawns.
The swan we recently admitted has been succesdfullly released.
This young swan was admitted yesterday, they had been around for sometime all bedraggled after being attacked by their father. At around a year old, the cob (Male) drives away his youngsters so they find thier own partners and territory, sometimes they can be quite vicious to thier family, in an attempt to drive the youngsters away, they then get very confused in the big bad world.
This yearling has been examined, they are on pain relief for some minor wounds and bruising, they are eating, walking and hissing at us which is a great sign. We'll observe and reassess over the coming days before deciding further treatment or prepare to release. Swans are very territorial, naturally once they leave the parents they form groups of singles before pairing up, it's important that we release into a singles group well away from a bonded territorial pair.
Rearing baby song birds is hard work. Usually our foster carers can only have one brood (sometimes assorted) at any one time as feeding these every half an hour throughout the day whilst at work is sometimes quite testing!. These little Great Tits even had to go to the cinema and wait in the foyer so they could continue to be fed (thankyou cinema staff). Fortunately they’ve all now started eating on their own and even the runt has decided to peck at his buffet. 😅. They will soon be transferred to an aviary and then be returned to the wild where they belong.
#handrearing #greattits #songbirds #britishwildlife #wildlifehospital #wildliferehab #wildliferehabilitation #handrearingbabybirds #fledglings
Duckling release
So far we have admitted 23 ducklings this year, 21 have survived, the last 11 in our care have this week been released back into the wild.
We still have 9 goslings growing rapidly!
Arrived today, two Jackdaws nestlings that have fallen froma nest, boy they are very loud!
Hog
So happy to see this chappie finally eating. He arrived cold, very dehydrated, thin and full of internal and external parasites.
The priority was to stabilise his condition to prevent further deterioration, so first we warmed him up, then we could administer fluids and electrolytes to start hydration, antibiotics, pain relief and anti parasitic medication to aid recovery.
A few days on and to our relief, he feels well enough to start eating again and finally he's now gaining weight.
Cleaning himself after a very, very long trim.
Two very excitable, very young pigeon squabs that are on the list of many mouths to feed.
A very important part of caring for our cows is hoof trimming. This weekend Holt Contracting Hoof Care Specialist came to inspect all of our cows hooves and trim. The cows get a little nervous in the hydraulic cattle crush, but they don't feel any pain and it's soon over for them, the crush is used to contain the cows during the procedure and to do so safely, for their and our safety.
We took the opportunity to fit horn protectors on two of our girls that have horns, all of the others were dehorned prior to us rescuing them. Protecting the horns provides protection for the non-horned cows.
There are babies galore at the moment but as always (and we have to say it every year) do NOT pick up vulnerable fledglings simply because they cannot fly. Baby birds often jump out of the nest a little too early and their parents continue to feed them. At this stage they are fully feathered and learning the ropes of survival. There are lots and lots of predators around at this vulnerable time but they are learning the skills of flying and fending for themselves until they reach adulthood. At this age hand rearing is extremely difficult for us as they have learnt that humans are predators and often refuse to gape for food so we have to go through the stresses of force feeding them. They also have to hang around with our dedicated team of foster carers who have to feed them every 30 mins throughout the day.
As always at this time of year we are full of baby wildlife in all shapes and sizes and our foster mums and dads are doing their absolute best to get these back into the wild where they belong.
#fledglings #leavefledglingsalone #babybirds #wildlifehospital #wildliferescue
Gosling
This lone gosling arrived this week, somehow separated from their parents. Whilst we try and find other lone rescued gosling for them to join, it's vital they are kept warm and have artificial company.
On their own they often get very distressed and can perish.
This little one has been comforted by our dogs toy rain deer and thriving.
To run an animal rescue caring for hundreds of wild, pet and farm animals takes a lot of coordination, skill sets and money, not least the work needed to organically manage 27 acres of land.
This weekend I had the pleasure of finally, after months of rain, of driving around and around in circles rolling one of our larger fields, we hope that very soon the big cows can come out to play on it!!
