Not a good day today

It was just one of those days today. Some days are really good, and you finish the day feeling that you have made a real difference. Other days, like today, you feel quite down and you wonder if there is really any point in battling all these problems us 'wonderful' humans cause to wildlife.

A beautiful hobby was brought in today, very small and pretty birds of prey that we rarely see. Sadly, she had a badly broken wing which was being eaten away by maggots and had to be put to sleep. Another patient, an adult female hedgehog was found on the road and, as an example of just how resilient wild animals are, we watched her wandering round and round in the cage, eating a bit and then going back to her walking again. There appeared to be only a slight swelling to her forehead, nothing else was obvious but I was suspicious of the swelling and decided to have her x-rayed. This revealed a large piece of her skull totally broken away (I won't go into any more detail about the injury) and I simply cannot believe that any animal could still be walking and eating with such a serious, horrendous injury. Obviously she also had to be put to sleep, another victim of our modern day world - hedgehog versus car, there is usually only one winner in this situation!

On a more cheerful note, we have released quite a number of mammals and birds lately including a grass snake that had been tangled in pond netting, two buzzards plus we have some more fox cubs going out to a release pen this weekend, so it's not all bad news!

Snared badger released

A badger, brought in by the RSPCA several weeks ago after being caught round his middle in a snare, was released last night. The 115 mile round trip to take him back to his territory was well worth it as it was obvious that he knew exactly where he was as soon as we arrived there & wasted no time in racing off along a well-used badger path.

When he arrived at Vale he was in a mess, the snare having cut into him all the way round his middle (& I have to add that this was a perfectly legal, free-running snare which, according to the users of such things, do not cause any physical damage). He needed many, many stitches to repair his wounds & a long course of antibiotics to prevent any infection.

Happy ending for this lucky badger though, it's just awful to think of all those other helpless animals which have suffered in snares - & I really hope that this one stays well away from any others in the future.

Ozzy update

Ozzy the skunk is still with us & she is doing really well. She's put on loads of weight & loves being picked up & fussed. She'd spend all day being carried round if we let her - trouble is we don't get much work done when she's out, she's very distracting, & unbelievably cute!!

About 70 hedgehogs in at the moment, mainly youngsters & about three quarters of them are now on antibiotics as they have infections. Hedgehogs seem to pick up all sorts of infections, especially intestinal, really easily, so this situation is not at all unusual.

We have been able to do a lot of releases lately too (in between rainy days!) Many of the birds that we took in several weeks ago as tiny, bald babies are now reaching the age where they need to go off & find their own territories & can cope without our help. This time of year is probably the most satisfying with everyone's hard work finally paying off with animals being released on a daily basis. Our 23 fox cubs will soon be off to their temporary release pens too & will be back in the wild where they belong in a few weeks.