A day in the life of a wildlife assistant
As we leave hedgehog season behind, Spring brings a whole new atmosphere to the centre. Hedgehogs are being released back to the wild, and we are starting to see a wave of fledglings and cute baby mammals come through our doors.
Today, we had a call about some fox cubs that were found under a member of the publics garden shed. Sadly, the mum had not returned to them, so we bought them into our care. The five cubs have been feisty little things, but everyone at Oak and Furrows have completely fallen in love with them. Unfortunately, without their mum, we have to bottle feed them ourselves with puppy milk. However, they are now with one of our fosterers and are thriving. It won’t be too long before they lose their brown fur and start showing specks of bright orange.
Foxes haven’t been the only mammals that came in today. We also had two, beautiful adult rabbits that were bought in by a member of the public. They were concerned for their safety after they witnessed them being attacked by a weasel. After looking them over, we discovered that they were perfectly healthy and had no injuries, but want to monitor them for a few days to be sure that all is well. They are currently being kept in a quiet isolation bay and being stocked up with lots of hay.
Bird season is just around the corner, and we are already seeing the beginning of what will be an extremely busy few months. Today, we saw our first baby bird of the year. A tiny robin was bought into the centre after a cat bought the little fella into someone’s house. Our guesses are that he had fallen out of his nest and that is where the cat had found him. The family bought the robin into us where we saw that it was still very tiny and is yet to grow his feathers.
This means that he will need round the clock care until he is big and strong enough to be released. His future is currently unknown, but that won’t stop us from trying to do everything that we can for him.
To end things, we have been releasing healthy hedgehogs back into the wild where they belong. Volunteers have been picking up the hedgehogs where they will keep an eye on them to ensure that they settle back into wild safely. Three hedgehogs were taken from the centre today leaving us with only eight left to look after. Hopefully, they will be released just like their friends very soon!
Today, we had a call about some fox cubs that were found under a member of the publics garden shed. Sadly, the mum had not returned to them, so we bought them into our care. The five cubs have been feisty little things, but everyone at Oak and Furrows have completely fallen in love with them. Unfortunately, without their mum, we have to bottle feed them ourselves with puppy milk. However, they are now with one of our fosterers and are thriving. It won’t be too long before they lose their brown fur and start showing specks of bright orange.
Foxes haven’t been the only mammals that came in today. We also had two, beautiful adult rabbits that were bought in by a member of the public. They were concerned for their safety after they witnessed them being attacked by a weasel. After looking them over, we discovered that they were perfectly healthy and had no injuries, but want to monitor them for a few days to be sure that all is well. They are currently being kept in a quiet isolation bay and being stocked up with lots of hay.
Bird season is just around the corner, and we are already seeing the beginning of what will be an extremely busy few months. Today, we saw our first baby bird of the year. A tiny robin was bought into the centre after a cat bought the little fella into someone’s house. Our guesses are that he had fallen out of his nest and that is where the cat had found him. The family bought the robin into us where we saw that it was still very tiny and is yet to grow his feathers.
This means that he will need round the clock care until he is big and strong enough to be released. His future is currently unknown, but that won’t stop us from trying to do everything that we can for him.
To end things, we have been releasing healthy hedgehogs back into the wild where they belong. Volunteers have been picking up the hedgehogs where they will keep an eye on them to ensure that they settle back into wild safely. Three hedgehogs were taken from the centre today leaving us with only eight left to look after. Hopefully, they will be released just like their friends very soon!