The animal's stories

As my duties moved more to outside work I got to experience a wider range of animals and meet a whole set of new characters.  One of my favourite duties is feeding the fox cubs, the obvious reason being that they are extremely cute.  However, it's not quite as fun as it sounds as these cubs cannot be tamed if they are to be released into the wild so we need to keep them afraid of humans by not interacting with them too much and even making loud noises etc to scare them if they get too curious.  Making an adorable fox cub scared is defiantly a very difficult task but luckily not really necessary as most of them our cautious already and some even show some aggression such as growling (see photo below).

However, there is a certain fox cub that does not abide by these rules and will approach you no matter how much noise you make.  In fact, your the one ending up looking foolish as the fox cub just sits there watching you whilst you stupidly bang a bucket, as it to ask 'are you finished yet'?  I'm only human and couldn't help getting attached to this fox cub and have even named him Rooney, a name that seems to have spread throughout the whole centre!  I have given up trying to scare Rooney as he is fearless although I do still refrain from encouraging him with any contact, as much as I'd love to stroke a fox cub!

Rooney

One animal that I am allowed to stroke and be as affectionate as I wish with is with Terrance the pig.  I was slightly confused when I came across Terrance outside, as this is a wildlife rescue centre after all.  His story is that his mother died when he was only a day old and the centre was contacted to see if they could take him as the farm could not provide the care he needed.  Now, who could turn down a cute piglet?  Terrance had to be bottle fed for the first few weeks and through this he has created a bond with humans and is always happy to see you, especially if you've brought food.  One of my favourite ways to end the day is to sit with him whilst he eats his dinner and take out all my stroking and cuddling frustrations out on him!

Some of these animals I do get too much contact with, not always intentionally.  The corvids (i.e. jackdaws, crows and magpies) are an example of this.  When they are moved out of the hospital they are put into a larger outdoor aviary although some of them still need hand feeding.  This means we still need to go in every couple of hours to feed them and this can be a challenging as there are now so many in there, all wanting to be fed first.  I took my life into my hands the other day by going in by myself, an act I will not be repeating as as soon as I stepped through the door I was covered in them.  Without anyone else to help me remove them I had to stay covered in them until I fed them enough so they flew off, a difficult task when your arms are covered in crows.  I learnt very early on not to bend down in the aviary as there is no way that you will be able to stand up again as apparently corvids view your back as a very desirable perch.

A very hungry bird

Although I am often covered in poo, hair, feathers and scratches from these animals, I do appreciate how lucky I am to get such close contact with them and this is definitely and experience I will never forget.

Open day mania

After my hurried introduction on my first day, it was much the same the following day although my duties were completely different.  As pretty much everyone has managed to tell me so far I managed to time my arrival on the busiest weekend of the year as today was their open day (phote below).  This brings in thousands of people and it is the centre’s main fund raising event so of course this means a lot of stress and people running around clutching pile’s of brick and brack.  I have worked on stalls in the past and also been working in retail since I was 14 so I did feel more in my comfort zone when it came to dealing with the public.  Again I did feel slightly that I was thrown into the deep end though when I was told that I would be managing the lucky dip alone.  This wasn’t just any lucky dip either as it involved a tent that was filled with sawdust that the children had to root around in to find the prizes.  This of course meant that I was in there as often as the children to bury new prizes so did end the day covered in sawdust!  It was worth it at the end of the day though as I personally made £275 (overall amount was over £11,000)  and many of the families said that they would come back again.  The children in particular were interested not just in the lucky dip but learning about the animals.  One little girl was very passionate about hedgehogs and was devastated when we told her that we only had one in the hospital that wasn’t open to the public.  However, we managed to get her in to see it in the end and I’m sure it was worth the minimal disturbance to fuel an inspiration that may lead to a potential career in conservation, perhaps even focused on hedgehogs which of course needing as much help as they can get as they are critically endangered.

I did manage to get a break from the lucky dip at one point to look over the stalls from other charities.  I firstly made a beeline for the RSPB as I’m striving to get as much information and contacts with them as it is an organisation that I hope to work with in the future.  I did manage to have an interesting talk with one of the wardens who gave me some helpful advice on my dissertation and suggested reserves that I should visit.

Another charity there was ‘Leage Against Cruel Sports’ which involved phasing out activities that harmed wildlife.  One of the ways in which they do this is by creating petitions, examples being one to reinforce the hunting law which has lately been under debate and one preventing the badger cull which is of course very topical at the moment.  As a passionate animal lover I find it difficult to consider culling as ever a good option although I know that in conservation it does occur, often to save more vulnerable species.  However, in the case of the badger cull, it is to preserve the spread of TB to cattle so the main motivation for the cull is economical reasons rather than environmental ones.  I am against this cull due to this reason, plus the fact that after 9 years of scientific research, it was concluded that “no practicable method of badger culling can reduce the incidence of cattle TB to any meaningful extent” (ISG report).

Despite this evidence, this cull is still being discussed and whilst it is in a state of flux, it was been reported that many farmers are taking matters into their own hands and killing any badgers on their land, even though they are still a protected species.   I think the most effective way of combating this is by educating these farmers on the real risk that these badgers pose and reinforcing the fact that this action is still against the law and they therefore will face repercussions. 

This is just another example of the constant battle between farmers and conservationists.  However, in more recent years these areas are becoming more integrated (e.g. through the environmental stewardship scheme that rewards farmers financially for managing their land in an environmentally friendly way) so hopefully a stage will be reached where both farmers and wildlife can live in harmony.  

Hessilhead stories

My summer of adventures has begun as I am volunteering at Hessilhead Wildlife Rescue Trust for 2 weeks.  You never know quite what to expect on these placements and in this case I had just arrived and within 10 minutes I’m told to push something that looks like dog food (which it turns out it was) down a jackdaw’s chicks throat.  Although this was slightly intimidating start seeing as I’d never even seen a jackdaw chick before I was glad to be put straight to work.  

I am now 3 days into this placement and my main duties so far have involved feeding a variety of species of birds in the hospital, including great tits, blue tits, pidgeons, common gulls, oystercatchers and many more. As the majority of the birds at this time of year are chicks then they all need hand feeding as none of them can take food for themselves.  This is a more difficult task for some chicks that are unwilling to take the food.  This was the case with a certain great tit chick which was brought into the centre after flying into a window and has subsequently received injuries which means that it cannot hold its head straight so needs help with this whilst being fed.  I was originally unsure about how long it would survive as its injuries seemed so severe but it does seem to want to feed if it has the correct help.  The fact that this chick seems so full of life does make the situation sadder though as if this is a permanent injury then it won't be able to make it in the wild and is likely to be put down.  Of course this is the worst part of the job and the most difficult decision to make.  This is always the case for any animal but when it comes to wildlife it is even more tricky as you have to be able to judge if it will survive adequately in the wild so even problems that could be treated in captivity and seem relatively minor do sometimes result in the animal being put down.

This is the case with a jackdaw chick which has a serious calcium deficiency which is indicated by the fact that at least half its feathers are coloured white.  On a supplemented diet, this bird may be able to survive but in the wild it's chances will be incredibly slim so the workers here have decided that it should be put down to avoid this potential suffering.  I was slightly shocked when I heard this news as my first instinct is always to try everything before resorting to this.  After all, if it cannot be released then it is only one more bird to be looked after so shouldn't it be given that chance?  However, I have only been doing this job 3 days so realise that I have to respect the decisions of the people here, many of which have been working with wildlife all their lives.  Even in the short time I've been here I've realised how much effort it takes just to keep these animals alive and unfortunately it is not possible to save them all.

However, the success stories defiantly prove that all this effort is worth while.  One of my favourites is a whole swan family (including 2 parents and 5 signets, photo below)  that arrived today which had to be removed from their habitat as it was no longer available.  They now seem perfectly at home in their enclosure and the parents are able to rear their chicks in safety before all being released together.

I'm sure I will be posting more about these success stories and I'm just hoping that I will be a part of saving these animals lives.

           

Stories from the beach...

I love the feel of this time of year, after a sleepy start everything is finally coming to life.  I'm back home from University for the summer (home being the Isle of Arran, Scotland) but I'm not here for that long so I'm making the most of this weather by taking extensive walks on the beach, always accompanied by one of our three dogs of course.  Another reason why I've been taking these walks is that I'm beginning to collect data for my dissertation (more on this later I'm sure) and this has led me to focus my observations on birds along the coast.  There is a lot of activity with all the different species of birds at the moment as they are all busy on their own missions, whether that be collecting nesting material, setting up nests, protecting their territories or hunting down food to feed their hungry chicks.  Each day I venture to the beach a different species catches my eye.  This may be because this is the first time I have seen this species, such as today where I was joined by a common

ringer plover whilst I was sitting counting gulls (see photo).  Alternatively, I focus on a species that I see regularly but I just take time to notice it more and perhaps begin to view it in a different light.

Today, my focus was  jackdaws on the beach.  I have always thought these birds have a certain sense of beauty with their jet-black plumage and loads of character that came even more apparent after my observations today.  They seem to have a proud and perhaps even arrogant nature as all their movements are very calculated and calm, as if they have nothing to fear.  This image was slightly tainted by the fact that as I was watching a certain jackdaw looking for nesting material, a pair of nearby oystercatchers had obviously been doing the same and one finally decided that this jackdaw was getting too close to their territory and aggressively flew at the jackdaw, forcing it to hurriedly fly away. Undeterred, the jackdaw continued with its search, although it did give these oystercatchers a wide berth from then on.

This is only my interpretation of the jackdaw's character and I am of course vulnerable to anthropomorphism (attribution of human characteristics to animals) like most people.  I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing as if people can relate to animals, they are more likely to want to protect them.  However, this can become dangerous as animals are often viewed in a negative light and this can seriously harm the protection of these species.  The jackdaw can be considered as one of these species, along with the whole crow family due to their prevalence in horror films etc.  Beyond this, the ecological role of these species can often offend people, e.g. taking other bird's chicks.

This is an example of speciesism, a concept that conservationists need to work to abolish in order to give all animals a fair chance of receiving the help they need.  After all, conservation programmes rely on public support but it is much harder to get this for species that are perhaps less popular, often due to appearance.  I think that one of the only ways to combat this is to allow people to really enter these animal's worlds, whether this be through additional information on the species or, if possible, actually meeting these species so people can understand better their way of life and want to help them.  At a personal level, although I am susceptible to noticing the cute animals first like everyone else, I believe that all animals are equal and should be treated so and this is the message that I want to live by and work towards propagating in my future career.

As for the jackdaw, I will defiantly be taking more time to observe it on my beach walks.  Who knows what species will be my focus tomorrow?