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Post by keith on Apr 16, 2010 22:40:50 GMT
We must admit that things are fairly quiet at the moment. Having said that...Spring is round the corner and we expect the first 'orphans' to start arriving soon. As usual we would ask people to contact us before picking up baby animals or birds of any kind that are seemingly 'orphaned'. Recent news is that Rhoda the Roe Deer was released the other night in full health and into a safe environment! This was a big relief to us and we thank everyone involved! In addition the baby rabbit that Pauline has hand reared was also released, hopefully to enjoy the full benefit of a 'wild' existence. As with all releases we worry about how they will get on following their stay with us. We content ourselves with the knowledge that without our intervention they would most certainly have died. In the next few days and weeks we also expect to be able to release 2 Tawny Owls who have overwintered with us although the other Tawny who has eye damage is likely to stay with us for the forseeable future. We also have a young Sparrowhawk with a damaged wing with us at present and we hope to take the strapping off her tomorrow. This is always a difficult time because even if everything is fine it will take a few days to see if the wing is strong enough. The problem is that she will have to be 110% fit before we can even think of release. In the meantime she has proven to be one of the fiercest, quickest most agressive creatures we have dealt with...and I have a number of small but extremely painful puncture wounds on my hands to prove it We just have to hope!
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Post by keith on Apr 19, 2010 23:54:22 GMT
I guess that this is the first of the spring intake for babies! I was in Huntly on Sunday for the sponsored walk and travelled to Mossatt to pick up some baby rabbits. These are some of the youngest rabbits we have ever taken in! I think they are only a couple of days old! We must admit that there is only a very remote chance of these little guys surviving...but Pauline is taking care of them with feeds every 2 hours and although their chances are slim...it will not be for a lack of trying. I guess that this is only the beginning of the long and sleepless nights. These little guys need feeding every 2 hours...so I hope that People will respect the fact that we may not be at our best when phoned at 8.00 am to ask if we have any ...rabbits ...dogs etc available.
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Post by keith on Apr 21, 2010 23:53:38 GMT
I am sorry to say that the baby rabbits did not make it! This was despite Paulines best efforts and round the clock feeding.....Sometimes, I am afraid we know that we are faced with 'lost causes'....Pauline is upset! I try to remind her that without our help these little guys were already lost...but...it is still difficult and we both feel that we could have done better!
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Post by keith on Apr 22, 2010 0:17:17 GMT
Hopefully,we have some encouraging news about our Sparrowhawk. Today we took the dressing off her wing!...Surprisingly.. neither of us were injured! She is incredibly fast and we already have the scars to prove it It is too early to say if the wing is sorted....But, when I fed her later she pounced, as usual, on her food and 'cowled' with both wings. Very encouraging! Just to explain what 'cowled' means...When Sparrowhawks catch their prey they often take them to a secure spot and pluck them....Unfortunately this is often in full site of the Bird Table where the poor Bird feeder has to watch! However, when they are 'plucking' their food they often spread their wings forward in a protective fashion to 'defend' their food from other possible thieves..crows or other Hawks. In doing this tonight it shows that she has still got the movement and flexibility to make such an action. We may well try her out in an open aviary tomorrow and see how she gets on. I have to admit that getting such a bird as her back to full fitness and able to be released, will be of immense pleasure and satisfaction...however, the fact is... that if she is not able to show the full range of her flying abilities then we are forced to consider what the future options might be for her. To turn out a bird of her nature back to the wild without being a 100% fit is basically consigning her to a slow death through starvation. As with many of our 'Wildlife' rescues....we will have to wait and see!
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Post by allycatz on Apr 22, 2010 7:33:45 GMT
Sorry to hear about the baby bunnies. At least Pauline tried her best and they died being cared for. Sometimes you can't save them all, but at least you try.
Good luck with the Sparrowhawk.
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Post by keith on May 4, 2010 3:04:12 GMT
Update on the Sparrowhawk...
I have to admit that our chances of success with the sparrowhawk were ..to say the least ...limited.
Our main hope was simply to save the birds life!
Our secondary hope was that we had done enough to at least save the wing to such an extent that the bird could perhaps survive to the degree that it may be able to enjoy a satisfactory life within an 'Aviary' environment. Perhaps able to flutter/ fly...but not able enogh to survive in the wild!
Earlier this week we released the bird into a 'Hack out' aviary 12 ft x 12 ft. equiped with a variety of branches, set low, which would allow it to walk up to higher perches, if it was able, and allow us to determine its future potential.
To say the least...we were delighted by its behaviour! On its release, it 'pinged' round the aviary from perch to aviary wire, to ground, to perch, to food and then back to perch where it proceeded to devour its food!
This was more than we had even hoped for!
Normally, we prefer to release birds of this kind back to their point of origin, but it quickly became obvious that this bird was 110% fit and if we were able to enter the avairy to 'net it' the chances were that the possibility was that the bird would most likely cause itself more damage than good.
On that basis, we decided that the best option was to open the doors and let it go here.
We are delighted to say that it 'rocketed' from the aviary clipping the fence wire lightly as it went on its way to the nearby Fir trees! ( we believe it only clipped the fence becase it had one eye in front and one eye on us )
It had a quick breather there before continuing on its way along the fir trees and then another qick breather to get its bearings, before dissappearing from our sight.
To say the least, we consider this a major sucess! This is far more than we could have hoped for!
We are chuffed! This is what what the centre is all about!
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