May 2020

Casualties in Lockdown

We have been running on a skeleton team here at Secret World, but we still have a variety of larger animals on site, including Foxes, Badgers, Otters and Fawns and Birds of Prey. Some of our volunteers are caring for orphaned wildlife and smaller species at home, including Mice, Rats, Voles, Nestling Birds, Corvids, Rabbits, Hoglets and a Leveret. We are so thankful that people are able to do this so that we can continue to rescue sick, injured and orphaned wildlife. We are currently caring for over 200 animals and it’s going up all the time.

Bonnie the Roe Fawn

Bonnie had a tough start to life! She was found in a rhyne near her sibling, that was sadly already dead. She came in weak and dehydrated but has made an amazing recovery, and is growing really fast. We did a live video with her on Facebook a few weeks ago which was a lovely chance for our supporters to see her and ask questions to Charlotte about her story and her cheeky character. We did rescue another orphaned fawn because her mother was found dead and she was still visiting her, attempting to feed. She was here for 8 days and able to spend her time with Bonnie, but sadly passed away so Bonnie is on her own again. She is in an outside enclosure now and loves being out in the long grass, listening to all the other animals around her.

Fox Cub update

We have 14 fox cubs on site now! They are all growing well and moving through the different stages of their rehabilitation. We have two groups that are fully vaccinated and in their outside enclosures, plus two more groups still in their inside enclosures. One group is going to move in the next few days and the last little group will move after their second vaccinations.in two weeks. We are hoping to go live on Facebook with the fox cub move over the next few days, so if you follow us on there please keep an eye out for times, and you should receive a notification when we are ‘Live’.

Sydney the Serotine

Sydney came in in December of 2019, he had an injured wing and was emaciated. It was very difficult to rehab him as he would not readily feed himself, so Katie had to feed him every day by hand until he got the hang of it. Heidi one of the vets at Quantock Veterinary Hospital informed us that he is an old bat, but that he still has some life in him yet. To ensure that he was fully fit and ready for release we have been putting him through flight training practice with positive reinforcement. Katie and Dan, animal carers have been working with bat expert Daniel Hargreaves getting him ready for release and monitoring his activity overnight. As he is a special case, we have decided to soft release him from Katies house as she does not live too far away from where he was found. He will be released over the weekend and Katie is going to monitor him with a bat detector and night vision camera in the evenings. Good Luck Sydney!

Pikachu the amazing Field Vole

This amazing little field vole was found at a plastic recycling plant in Bridgwater. When they traced the crate he was found in they realised that he had come from Newton Abbot the day before. Little Pikachu (named by the rescuer) had been on a huge journey, spent the night in the crate with its siblings, gone through the plastic milling process twice and somehow survived! Unfortunately the siblings didn’t make it through this trauma, but Little Pikachu is feeding well and will hopefully make it to release.

Leaving a gift in your will to help wildlife

We are really pleased to have received a recent gift from a will, which means so much to us. They make up a large part of our income, and we rely on them to continue our work. It is our pleasure to name pens or buildings in memory of the person who has given us the gift, and create a lasting tribute to our supporters. This is why we have the ‘Millie Block’ Building, which is name in memory of a little girl who lived locally and who lost her life in a tragic accident. Most gifts in wills come from those with a love of wildlife, and often memories of Secret World too. If you are able to leave us a gift in your will, you can get more details from our website at: https://www.secretworld.org/legacies/  or please call Lesley or Pauline on 01278 768701. Thank you.

April 2020

Mange Brothers

Three male foxes have been rescued from a garden in Fishponds, Bristol. These were born last year and didn’t disperse, they’re all quite content living together and sharing gardens. When the call came in we weren’t sure if we would catch them all but we were able to after two weeks of trapping. Fox trapping can be quite complicated if it’s more than one fox so catching three is a great success, all caught by one dedicated volunteer with the support of the homeowner. One had to be treated with antibiotics on arrival because the wounds from the mange had become infected. Normally treating for mange takes around 2 weeks, they receive 3 injections, lots of food, rest and warmth for a quick recovery. They will all be released back to the area they know and love, hopefully they will have built up a natural immunity to mange now. Here is a picture of one of the foxes in the homeowners garden and how he looked nearly ready for release.
                                           

Tough Tawny Owl

This Tawny was trapped in netting in a garden in Frome. The people managed to free it and took it to the vets for them to check him and continue to free his legs. He was transferred to Secret World the same day. He is probably helping to rear chicks at this time of year so he needs to get back home quickly. His legs are still swollen so he will need a couple of days continued pain killers and we will try to release him back to his home at the end of the week.

Otter Update

The Otters are doing well, they’re fierce now! As soon as they moved from milk to fish they didn’t want people near them so that’s really positive. They have moved in too our outside otter pen this month where they have a nice big pool and we provide them with lots of enrichment because they’ll be in there for nearly a year. This is one of them with his nostrils flaring, trying to understand what’s happening. They have loved being outside in the lovely spring weather they’re enjoying their big pool every night.

Badger Badger Badger

We have three orphaned Badger cubs with us. They all came in from different places and were all in a bad way. They’re doing much better now. We have Marleen and Monty who are still drinking their milk from a bottle and we have Pip who’s on solid food. They’re living in the same room but in separate pens until they’ve have their TB tests, then they will be grouped and eventually released together.