Loki and Smokie "helping" us spread the sawdust in their pen today. They really are playful little scamps!!
If you say goodbye to Gizmo the parrot, he says are you going now, take care, then he waves goodbye.but we have now found that Ozzie the parrot, shakes hands.
Hannah came in to us in a dreadfully emaciated state, we didn't think she would survive and she was pregnant, even though it didn't show as she was like a piece of hairy string on legs, she was very wobbly when standing and her rear end kept flopping over. She gave birth to two, Pepper and Sale, who are now moving about the hutch, stealing mum's food and they will have their eyes open soon. Hannah likes them to stay in their bed and she is forever putting them back when they venture out. She has done well to rear them, they are fine, fit , healthy, little kits and Hannah herself has put weight on and is doing really well.
One of our resident Tawny Owls enjoys a paddle in his water tray today to cool off, we were hoping to see him have a splash about but he just wanted to cool his feet apparently.
Gizmo, one of our resident parrots, always waves goodbye to visitors. Ozzie, Alfie and Frankie say ' Hello ' but Gizmo always waves farewell.
Nine days ago, three abandoned kittens were brought in to us for rearing. They had been found in college grounds and no sign of mother returning for many hours. They are now 12 days old, have their eyes open and are developing characters of their own. The first kitten is a pretty little tabby female, she is quiet, not fussy about being fed first, so I always feed her first, then give her a top up feed after Bruno, number three has been fed
Kitten number two, not as greedy as his brother, has to take his feeds in two parts, one half before Bruno and the second half after Bruno has been fed.
Bruno, kitten number three, greedy little boy, always hold his front legs straight up in the air when feeding, takes twice as much as the other two.
Another buzzard successfully released after recuperating at the rescue, sadly the camera isn't clear enough to see him fly to a tree on the right in the distance
New arrival, settling in well.
Jenny, the lamb, now fully recovered and feeding well. She is growing well and very greedy. She is now experimenting with nibbling anything and everything she thinks might be food so we have to be constantly alert with her. She now spends a lot of her time playing in the yard and running round with the dogs. Jenny even chases the ball when thrown for the dogs, though she hasn't yet figured how to pick it up and bring it back.
We have a Ferret Cabin at the Sanctuary, it is situated with the ferret units, it is where the cages and all other ferret equipment is stored, including the files, desk etc. This morning we thought we had been visited by vandals but no, it was simply Sinbad, who is a very active, inquisitive, fun loving ferret who let himself out of his
pen and had a really good, fun time altering the decor and storage arrangements of everything in the cabin.
Mad magpie is jealous of the baby magpies which I have been hand rearing. He comes to the window, jumping up and down and tapping on the window with his beak, demanding attention.
Because of the lovely weather, the volunteers had their lunch outside on the picnic bench. Magpie decided to join them and he chose to share Jan's lunch of King prawn, hot smoked Scottish Lochmuir salmon and couscous salad with lemon vinaigrette.
He even tried to have some of Ben's coffee !
Mitch and Magpie at play. I think it is a sort of tag game but I am not sure, don't quite know who won and is even worse when they all join in.
Visitors are always pleased to have attention from Mad Magpie, some come along just to photograph him !
Tara our bumbling clown of a Rottie is always playing with her dish, no matter how many toys she has, it is her dish that she likes best.She carries it around with her most of the day, she throws it up in the air and catches it BUT what we have noticed is that Molly, the dog in the kennel opposite Tara has, Guess What ? , started to play with her dish, the difference being she puts her feet in the dish and skates all round the kennel. You cannot imagine the noise from these two dogs !
This shows the four Yorkies, Abbie, Betsy, Candy, Debbie, now with claws clipped, de matted and cleaned up. They are still very frightened and tend to stay at the back of the kennel bedroom, sometimes even behind their bed. They are all booked into the vets next week for treatment and surgery.
On the 30th January. 2015, the Animal Padre, Reverend James Thompson, passed away, he was 84 years young, still working hard for animal welfare causes along with Doreen, his widow, who was his constant companion. He was the patron of our charity, a very dear friend of ours. He worked constantly for animal causes internationally, he was tireless in his devotion to animals and it was a privilege to know and work this this wonderful gentleman. He leaves a void in our lives that can never be filled.
I was honoured to be invited to his funeral which was held on 10th February at St. Peters Church, Holywell, which was very well attended by family and friends.
James organised and presided over many Pet Services and Blessings at chapels in Holywell and Connah's Quay, he also did the official opening ceremony for our Charity Shop in Mold. For a number of years he has led the Service of Remembrance at the Animal Cenotaph in Hyde Park, London to remember all of the animals who have died in wars past and present.
We will miss you James, but your quiet, caring, gentle presence will be felt for a long time to come.
