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Less than 2 weeks to go to Christmas and we are receiving some lovely Christmas cards from many of our supporters. With a very wet Christmas Fayre at the end of November, the decorations are already up and we are getting into the Christmas Spirit.

Some of our long term casualties have been released which is always brilliant. A buzzard rescued by one of our response drivers came in on November 16^th. The buzzard was suffering from concussion and had gone blind but we were hoping that the sight would come back. After several days we were worrying that he was still unable to see and Lisa, our vet nurse, noticed that the pupils of his eyes were dilating with the change of light. We all crossed our fingers – and within 2 days his sight was back. He had a couple of weeks in an aviary to build up muscle and finally went for release about a week ago.

We also had a badger in for several weeks, again suffering from concussion. He had arrived during the night, was put on a drip and for many days seemed completely out of it. After a few days of not eating, he was tube fed with honey, complain and egg which he took very well and he was soon on the road to recovery. Again, he was released last week so hopefully will be with his family for Christmas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lisa, our vet nurse, is buzzing around with so much going on in the last few days that she will be with us. She is off to Australia for at least a year and we are all going to miss her. I’m sure she will have great time down under but we hope she won’t forget us – qualified veterinary nurses with so much wildlife knowledge are hard to find.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The otter cubs are doing well. Tiny Toni is also learning to swim but she gets to bath on her own as Puddle is too full of energy. She’s swimming a bit like I do with her head held high above the water (!) but each day she becomes more confident. Puddle is full of it and the water often slops over the side of the bath where she moves so fast now chasing toys and retrieving shells. Bath time ends when she pulls the plug out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don’t think Tiny Toni much enjoyed having a wet bed mate after Puddle’s baths but now they both go in and so they squirm together in the towel to get dry. This is usually followed by playtime until it’s time for a sleep.

 

Tonight is the first time the lights will be on in the otter enclosure so hopefully you should be able to see Hope and Ozzy playing in their pond on Web cam 4.

 

It’s been a long day today trying to get everything done for the Christmas Fayre this weekend. It’s a lot to do on top of the auction and ball last weekend. Hopefully the weather will stay kind for us tomorrow evening for our carol service.

An RTA deer came in late last night around 11.30 p.m. Some kind people travelled all the way here from near Bath having found it in the middle of the road. It does not have any broken bones but Lisa thinks it may be an old deer so we will have to see how it goes.

My little otter has got a name – Puddle – which she seems quite happy with. Puddle is certainly making up for the food she has missed as she is tucking into the small trout that we have for her and fresh mince. Two ladies came in yesterday with a baby otter that they had found and it was the same size as Puddle. We thought we had managed to get a friend for her very quickly but sadly she had been found too late and despite Lisa working hard on her, she died just a few hours after coming in. She had obviously been without food for quite some time and was very dehydrated.

The badger from last week is getting stronger and enjoying the heat from his infra red light. Crusty, the little hedgehog with ring worm is starting to grow his prickles back and does not look quite so like a rat! Still lots of underweight hedgehogs coming in every day. It looks like it is going to be another busy winter.

Derek is spoiling Albert rotten but Albert still is not a happy chappie when you leave him in a room. Rocky is leaving his foot alone today so perhapshis anti-biotics are calming the infection down.

I forgot to tell you that the heron went home yesterday so that was a success. A deer came in late last night. Graeme, one of our volunteers had been to fetch it and got here just around 10.30. I dressed its wounds as it had already seen a vet who had put a pressure bandage on the wounds on the leg but wanted it removed once she got here.

She’s got some nasty wounds from a dog attack and is fairly out of it. I was surprised to see that she made it through the night but Lisa has had a quick look but said to wait and see. I can see that she is moving around the pen on the cameras but she is still in shock.

The Dartmoor crew got home about 3 p.m. Very exhausted but no doubt, proud that they made it. I’m sure there will be some stories to tell tomorrow!

Derek and I managed to do a bit of gardening but not enough to make an impression. I was quite late going down to do the deer and was amused to see that the badger cubs were all waiting for their food.

 

Another late callout tonight as some people brought in a badger that had been in a road accident. We took it in to the vets as it had suffered head trauma. With no obvious injuries, it has come home having had anti-biotics and steroids to reduce the swelling on the head. I’ve made him as comfortable as I can for the night.

Ozzy had to have a late swim and bottle and I’ve just checked the RTA badger now 1.40 a.m. and certainly he is not worse. I hope both the deer and the badger make it through the night.

We went to visit Andrew Cooper who is a well known BBC wildlife film maker. He was giving us advice on our cameras that we have on our web site and it was lovely to see the beautiful home that he and his wife have. Andrew made the film “Badgers – Secret of the Setts” which was narrated by Sir David Attenborough. It was fascinating to see how they had managed to have cameras on so many areas around the farm so that you could see the wildlife. A website well worth a visit.

A badger that came in over the weekend, sadly had to be put down. His injuries were too severe. Highs and lows of what we do but it never gets easier.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The evening ended up with catching foxes who were going to their release site and it took longer that we thought it would. It is always great to see them looking so well and finally going out to be free once more but there is also the sadness for the ones that didn’t make it. Try as we may, it is not always a happy ending.

 

Little Mojo, a fox cub that Judith hand reared sat watching from her pen. She just hasn’t really grown as much as the others but is clever enough to know that if she sits by the gate at feeding time, she will get to the nice titbits before the others pile in.

Wednesday June 24^th

Managed to finish a bit more of the front garden . I’ve nearly finished and then I can move to the garden around the side of the house. Dave, one of our volunteers rang while I was out there to say he was bringing in a badger cub and injured squirrel but would not be here till after 11 30.

I went on with feeding the fawns in the kitchen while I waited and Marie also kindly stayed on although she was meant to finish at 10. Dave and his wife, Rosemary got here just after 11.30. Marie saw to the squirrel which was not able to move its back legs but could move its tail. We decided to give it pain relief and give it the benefit of the doubt. Its back was not broken if it could move its tail but it looked like a broken pelvis. A quiet night was all we could do at this stage. He was still lively as he had managed to bite Dave and Marie was careful when she injected it.

The badger cub had obviously lost mum. It was very under weight and found in someone’s chicken house. She had come complete with fleas so we sprayed her and left her for a while as the fleas jumped ship ! Once she was clear, we moved her down with Polly and Little Miss Muffet. We put an extra portion of food in the pen and she was soon snuggled up with the others. Continue reading Pauline’s Blog! 24th June 09