This week we were able to release Cauliflower, the adult hedgehog weighing 1.3kg who came in found circling in a road.
When he came in, he had blood in one of his ears, was knuckling on a front leg and was discovered to have lungworm. We made him a hedgehog house int eh wild before releasing him to ensure he has somewhere warm to sleep.
In contrast, baby hedgehog Eggnog, who weighs just 230g was found in Lewes a couple of weeks ago. He also has lungworm and roundworm and will be with us all winter.
Saturday was a morning of foxes. We had two call’s at 8.30am, one regarding a fox stuck in a football net, and a few seconds later a fox on the A259 that had been hit by a car. Rescuer Tony rushed to the road casualty fox, where luckily some workmen waited with the poor animal, who was in a bad way. Tony rushed the fox into St Annes Vets in Eastbourne. Sadly later on in the day the fox took a turn for the worse and had to be put to sleep.
At the same time rescue co-ordinator Chris, rushed to the fox entangled in a football goal in Etchingham Road, Eastbourne. When he arrived, the RSPCA were already on site. Chris assisted with the rescue, but sadly as their officer tried to manoeuvre the animal into a cage, it struggled and escaped. Anyone in the Eastbourne area of Etchingham Road, please keep an eye out for him and call our rescue line on 07815078234 anytime of the day.
I’m not sure why, but we always seem to deal with more calls about wildlife like foxes and hedgehogs entangled in netting like football goals and cricket tunnels during the winter months. A good way to avoid these problems is to remove the netting when not in use, especially at weekends and school holidays, when there is less activity on sports fields. In places where hedgehogs are frequent visitors you can try raising the netting off the ground by 8 inches so that hedgehogs can run underneath without getting caught up.
Rescuer Murrae attended a call to a badger trapped in a drain in Crowborough on Sunday. It luckily wasn’t too far down but far enough not to be able to climb out again. Murrae managed to successfully rescue the badger which was fit and well, and kept in for the day before being released later in the day once dark.
Last week we had an emergency call out to a badger on the disused railway north of Lewes. The rescue was made difficult by the lack of access close to the badger. Rescuer Chris carefully scaled down the side of the embankment but getting equipment down, let alone back up again, would be difficult. Luckily as the badger was quite lethargic Chris was able to wrap the badger up in his jacket and carry her to the end of the embankment where I met him with a badger cage and helped carry the badger up to the ambulance. Back at WRAS’s centre the badger was much more lively as she had warmed up and had to be sedated by our vet Mike and given a thorough check over. We couldn’t find anything majorly wrong, and came to the conclusion she may have had a knock with a car on the Old Malling Way stumbled to the bottom of the embankment and not managed to climb up the other side. Our black and white friend is now bedded down at WRAS’s Centre where she is being fed up due to being slightly underweight and monitored for any other health issues. We hope this lady will be suitable for a Christmas release.
Finally thank you to every one for all their cards, Christmas donations and messages of support, thank you so much and from everyone at WRAS we wish you all a Merry Christmas.