Community HomeThursday 4th March
Well, apologies to all re my blogs that have been absent for several weeks. I have to admit that I have been away for four weeks on a holiday to Australia which was certainly a holiday of a lifetime. It was all to do with the fact that I am reaching my 60th year!
Luckily I had made contact with several people who are involved with wildlife care in Australia and I had a fabulous time visiting carers looking after joeys, wombats, possums and sugar gliders. Wombats are definitely my favourite – they are so like badgers! However it was a long time away from home and I’m glad to be back even if I have had to hit the ground running.
A baby wombat called Spud !
Judith, one of our animal carers, moved into my flat to look after Snowflake, the otter cub that I left in the cubby hole. I received a phone call while I was in Australia to say he was weaned and was it ok for him to go down to the Otter and Owl Centre in Southampton as they had another cub for him to go to. Of course, that was fine as far as I was concerned, but I was sorry not to have seen him before he went.
I was going to be coming home to an empty cubby hole – but I needn’t have worried as a young female otter cub was brought to Secret World the day I returned so I was soon back to bottle feeds!
Terra holding her bottle
This otter cub has been named Terra by Laura who is another of our animal carers, and she is helping me with the feeds which is just as well as, just a few days later, our first badger cub arrived. The cub had been pulled out from a badger sett by a terrier but she had been very gentle with it and had taken it straight to her owners. Only a matter of a few days old, the tiny cub was brought into us.
Aquarius - only about a week old
feeding on a small syringe to start with
I really must wear my glasses more often as I mistook the cub for a female and called it Crocus, a nice spring name but the next day, when I toileted the cub I realised the urine was coming from some where different ! She quickly became he and is now called Aquarius.
Lorrie, our newest member of staff, is helping me with the badger cub. All good practise for them to gain experience in rearing the cubs. Aquarius has grown so much in a matter of a few days and is now able to scratch with his back leg, move his ears and his eyes are starting to open. They normally would not open until the cub is 5 weeks old but as the cub is in daylight, the eyes often open sooner when in rehab.
Lorrie with Aquarius
It’s been a lovely sunny day today and out in the car, it was great to see the catkins in the hedgerow. Oh! that all our countryside could be a safe and viable place for our wildlife to survive in.
Hope you had a well earned break Pauline, lovely to see the picture of the baby wombat, and the new female/male otter is just adorable.
if you have just had the big birthday, hope it went well, and many of them.
Good luck at the rally, I will be in the hospital unfortunately.
Like you I to wish our countryside were as safe as it is beautiful.
Comment by Jan Curtis. — March 7, 2010 @ 8:37 pm