My ever suffering partner Kathy missed out on her romantic Valentines evening this year thanks to the weather. The amber weather warning meant I had no choice but to stay overnight at our Casualty Centre to deal with any incidents and to ensure that if volunteers couldn’t get to the centre in the morning I would be there already to cover and ensure they were cleaned, and fed. It was a very rough night including shooting out to search for a badger road casualty at Nutley, unfortunately the finder didn’t wait with the badger, so when we arrived the badger could not be found, we just hope someone else found it. About 1am we lost power to the building which didn’t return properly till late the following day. It caused us a few problems with our phone lines, lighting, drainage pumps, and drugs fridge, so we have now invested in a generator which can be used to keep the basic power supply running when this happens again.
We have this poorly Tawny Owl in care at the moment which was found in the middle of Friston Forest. A kind lady picked him up and walked back to the car park at Butchers Hole where one of our ambulances met her and delivered him up to our Casualty Centre. He is rather weak and suffering from severe Canker. We are treating him at the moment, but as his throat is quite congested with Canker so we are having to tube feed him. It is touch and go as to whether he will make it, so we are feeding him little and often and only time will tell.
Our ambulances have been busy this week responding to a number of seabirds along the coast. A razorbill was found after it crash landed next to Corsica Hall in Seaford. The bird was not oiled which is when we normally see then, but he was rather disorientated and a bit underweight. Ambulances have also been out to Guillemots covered in oil as well as some just underweight and weak at Seaford and Eastbourne. All of these birds have been transported up to the RSPCA Mallydams Wood centre as they have specialist facilities for these types of birds.
We are still getting frequent calls to road casualty or collapsed foxes in very severe conditions. One found at Heathfield sadly had to be put to sleep at the vets as did 2 others found at Ringmer and Eastbourne.
Finally a break in the weather has allowed us to release some of our birds in care. A feral pigeon who was found in a chimney and a wood pigeon that flew into a window, both from Eastbourne, have been released. A blackbird from Alfriston has also been released, he also came in as a window strike. These casualties are fairly common during the winter.
WRAS Is fundraising to buy some new cages, we are well on the way to achieving this with almost three quarters sponsored now. We still have our medium cages available for sponsorship, which can be dedicated to the memory of someone, in a friend or loved ones name or even in your own name. These medium cages cost £275 each to sponsor and those who sponsor cages will be allowed to visit and see their cage once it is installed. You can also just make smaller donations to help support our casualties and help with the purchase of these cages too. This is a life saving project so please help support our wildlife. You can donate via our justgiving link or call 01825-873003 http://www.justgiving.com/HospitalCageAppeal2013.
I am also losing weight to raise money for WRAS. The past few years I have been battling with high blood pressure and the stress of the job and the hours worked, and I’ve finally decided that I really need to lose some weight. I want it to be sustainable so I’m not dieting but just changing the way I eat, what I eat and how often I eat to a more organised regime, and being a careful about the amount of fat and sugar in food. Since 14th January I have lost 2.7kg. I am aiming to get down to 82kg by the end of the year a loss of 16.2kg. I know this is a challenge and not going to be easy but I am going to give it a really good go. Please help support me in this challenge. http://www.justgiving.com/trevsweightloss