Katy's Wildlife Rescues

15/11/2025

So true, I've been going at half capacity this year yet still feel each one in hand and each call and message. The biggest hearts bear the biggest burdens.. and there are many big hearts across the country, caring selflessly for our wildlife🙏✨️❤️✨️

So... there is another side to wildlife & animal rescue. It's not glamorous and it's not something that often shared - but it should be. We NEED to talk about the emotional toll of caring.

There is a mental and emotional toll, whether you volunteer for an hour or live and breathe rescue work. Behind every rescue centre (who is doing it for the right reasons), there is an invisible side the work entails.

1. Compassion fatigue - its an emotional and physical exhaustion due to constantly exposing ourselves to the suffering of others

2. Burnout – the physical, mental and emotional cost of always being needed. Always needing to be in at least 2 places at once.

3. Guilt - feeling responsible the rescued animal didn't make it, even though you had no hand in its suffering or abuse. Feeling guilty you didn't do more to save it, yet there was nothing more you possibly could have done.

4. Witnessing suffering - exposing ourselves to neglect & cruelty comes at a price. Emotionally it's draining and extremely upsetting that a little life is hurting!

5. Making unthinkable decisions – there is only so much we can do. There is a limit to funds, a limit to how much science and medicine can heal. Sometimes an animal is just too far gone and its suffering is too great

This post is not to get attention or to make you feel sorry for rescue volunteers or workers but to try and humanise it all.
You see, the truth is, saving animals often leaves scars on the people doing the saving. It's not just having fun and playing with cute animals.

*this post is dedicated to marshmallow. She passed the same night she was admitted - weighing only 84g*

08/11/2025

Following the recent and very sad story of the beautiful male otter, whose body has gone for testing at Limerick Regional Veterinary Lab - wanted to share a living otter I filmed in the week following.
A wildlife rehabilitators life and ecololgists life are full of seeing horrors, feeling relief of helping, witnessing death along with the lifesaving. Supporters also witness these things with heart.

We sometimes miss the pure moments of the beautiful creatures actually managing to still thrive and can hope that this is not a fading glimpse but a view of something returning, life that we can look forward to more of, with the right balance in place🌍❤️🦦

02/11/2025

28/10/2025

Bat Appreciation Week🦇
This little female Common P**istrelle, P**i, was found on the floor of the cathedral in Killarney, covered in webs. She weighed 3.8g which is much too low for a bat at this time of year, and an indicator that she'd been trapped for some time and unable to drink or feed.
Lucky girl aas found by Julia, who contacted Bat Rehabilitation Ireland who was able to connect us for a rescue and rehab. P**i flew in mild weather weighing 4.8g after some time in care with me.
I am housesitting at the moment but was able to bring a bat net over and care package for this pip🥰
Bats are under appreciated, fascinating, skilled and mammals with a vital role in our ecosystem. Not to mention, absolutely adorable, harmless little sweethearts🦇❤️

24/10/2025

Working with Sneem Tidytowns I helped design a winning bat garden plan for the village❤️🌷🌻🐝🦋🦇
It will be a fun and beneficial project over the coming months.
Thank you Bat Conservation Ireland , we love our bats here🥰

23/10/2025

A little cutey patootie🥰
This little P**i's story soon

18/10/2025

Beautiful male Otter (Lutra Lutra) Madra Uisce / Dobharchú as gaeilge.
Found yesterday in a local beachside residents garden in Kerry.
Alive in the photo*
He was struggling and unfortunately passed away not long after this once he was inside a carrier for transport.
I was organising to bring him to Wildlife Rescue Cork.
Instead I brought him to NPWS for further investigation by the Regional vets.
The otter was showing signs of mild neurological behaviour and besides the obvious, he would have been in prime condition with no sign of injury.
Avian Flu cannot be ruled out.
So sad to see a gorgeous creature like this, pass so suddenly💔
were at the ready and worth a call if you see a suspect case🙏

09/10/2025

Nadja is the darkness that seeps into the crevices of forgotten places. Nadja is the night, falling like black rain. Nadja speaks a language of chilling whispers, shared only by the dry leaves of the forest floor and the wild rolling past undiscovered caverns. Nadja exists in the space between beast and bird, death and resurrection, eternity and finality.

Actually…. None of that is really true. We could wax poetic all night about Nadja, but the truth is that she is an animal, just like a dog, a mouse, or a butterfly. She feels fear and pain, like any other animal. She’s never been to Hell or talked to the devil or transformed into a vampire. She’s a sentient, living being who needs help.

Bats are— for better or for worse— animals that have been regarded throughout history as spooky harbingers of death and demons. Their highly nocturnal nature, strangely human-like faces, and a historical association with rabies have all contributed to an overall negative public image.

These associations are harmful. They lead many people to fail to help them when they’re hurt. Even worse, an entire industry mass-exterminates them just so they can be preserved and sold as creepy decorations. Once, an elderly woman crossed her heart and loudly prayed for my soul because I was assisting an injured bat. Wouldn’t the world be better if we could just see them as fellow mortals, rather than supernatural harbingers of death?

Thankfully, Nadja’s finders did exactly as they should when they found her struggling. They scooped her into a small box without touching her and contacted us immediately. Nadja has a large tear in her wing, but it should heal with time and treatment. Bats’ wings are fragile, but they’re also made to be able to heal quickly.

Thank you for making Nadja’s care possible. We love what we do! 🦇

08/10/2025

Very cool bat fact😍🦇

Fact #8
Peregrine Falcon only beats it if it's in a dive, not on the flat!

20/09/2025

Great news for bats🥳 Insecticides/pesticides have been banned, water courses cleaned up, habitats restored and new dwellings created and people are educated in schools about wildlife's plight, importance and natural services from day 1🌳💚

It hasn't *yet* but the picture of young Sopranos shouts happy news. There is something to wishful thinking, I like to think we're going in the right direction✨️

19/09/2025

By vsualarts❤️ https://www.instagram.com/vsualarts?igsh=MTBjZ3FyZ2djejZteA==