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Today has been a very sad day for me. 'Humbug' my 18-year old captive-bred barn owl had developed cataracts in both eyes and had reached the stage where he couldn't even find his food, so I had the tough task of putting him to sleep today. Although it was a hard thing to do, I didn't want to see him suffering, he's had a good life with us and it would not have been right to keep him going just to make it easier for me, but I will miss him.
Latest hedgehog count - 110 and rising!
One reason why we are busier than normal for this time of year is that another wildlife centre which did take a lot of casualties from the Gloucester area has now closed down so I think that we can expect our numbers to carry on going up. Because of this we are also having to call on more and more of our volunteers to go out and pick up casualties, and bring them in to us. Unfortunately we just don't have enough staff to be able to operate a collection service for injured wildlife and we often have to rely on volunteers, so if anyone reading this lives in our area and is willing to be added to our 'collection volunteers list', please get in touch.
With the increase in hedgehogs has come an increase in the food we are using. Normally the number of tins of pet food we use would decrease in the winter months, but at the moment we are getting through over 1,000 tins every week....and we are getting desperately short of stock. We are about to put out an appeal for donations of tins, so please spread the word and help us to feed all our prickly residents.
Yesterday we had a starling in which was absolutely covered in the foam hole filler, which is sprayed into wall cavities and then sets hard. The poor bird had flown into the stuff while it was still soft and it had then set around him, Both his legs and one wing were totally encased in a solid mass. My first reaction when I saw him was that we wouldn't be able to do anything and our only course of action was to put the bird to sleep, but after anaesthetising him, I thought that I would see how easy it was to remove. It wasn't at all easy, but gradually I managed to cut off chunks of the filler and ease it away from his legs, feet and toes. A few of his feathers had to be cut away but eventually a majority of it had come away and he looked quite good.
We then waited until he came round from the anaesthetic to find out whether or not he still had the full use of his legs and wings. Yes, he did, and we spent the next few minutes trying to catch him as he flew round and round our bird room!!
I think that, after a short stay with us, he will be able to be released again.
I will try to add a couple of pictures tomorrow.
Latest hedgehog count - 110 and rising!
One reason why we are busier than normal for this time of year is that another wildlife centre which did take a lot of casualties from the Gloucester area has now closed down so I think that we can expect our numbers to carry on going up. Because of this we are also having to call on more and more of our volunteers to go out and pick up casualties, and bring them in to us. Unfortunately we just don't have enough staff to be able to operate a collection service for injured wildlife and we often have to rely on volunteers, so if anyone reading this lives in our area and is willing to be added to our 'collection volunteers list', please get in touch.
With the increase in hedgehogs has come an increase in the food we are using. Normally the number of tins of pet food we use would decrease in the winter months, but at the moment we are getting through over 1,000 tins every week....and we are getting desperately short of stock. We are about to put out an appeal for donations of tins, so please spread the word and help us to feed all our prickly residents.
Yesterday we had a starling in which was absolutely covered in the foam hole filler, which is sprayed into wall cavities and then sets hard. The poor bird had flown into the stuff while it was still soft and it had then set around him, Both his legs and one wing were totally encased in a solid mass. My first reaction when I saw him was that we wouldn't be able to do anything and our only course of action was to put the bird to sleep, but after anaesthetising him, I thought that I would see how easy it was to remove. It wasn't at all easy, but gradually I managed to cut off chunks of the filler and ease it away from his legs, feet and toes. A few of his feathers had to be cut away but eventually a majority of it had come away and he looked quite good.
We then waited until he came round from the anaesthetic to find out whether or not he still had the full use of his legs and wings. Yes, he did, and we spent the next few minutes trying to catch him as he flew round and round our bird room!!
I think that, after a short stay with us, he will be able to be released again.
I will try to add a couple of pictures tomorrow.
1 comment:
Sorry to hear about Humbug. I expect he had a better life with you than he would have had with a lot of others!
You can also increase your hog count by one as I brought you another last night - Sorry! (I did bring him some food aswell though)
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