# Long Overdue update from London Wildlife Hospital



## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Hi Everyone,

Thought I would start a new thread as a) the others get long and protracted and b) haven't updated in quite a while.

Things for me are still as busy - doing the bank job 5 days a week, then Friday night shift and all day Saturday at London Wildcare at Wallington, Surrey and boy are we busy now!!

Previous posts advised that the hospital closed at the end of December 2007 until beginning of April whilst we made some changes and reviewed the finances. A Xmas appeal brought in some much needed funds and I am happy to say that we are now fully open again and instead of just concentrating on birds, small mammals and waterbirds, we are taking in everything again ( including foxes, badger and deer) which is just as well as many foxes and fox cubs have needed our help over the past few months..........

At the moment, we have about 35 fox cubs, about 80 baby birds, 40 baby squirrels, over 150 ducklings and various adult animals including a Canada Goose, fox, ducks, heron, a ring necked parakeet, a swift, 2 baby owls and seagulls plus the resident 4 squirrels, 7 foxes, and 10 Aylesbury ducks - "The Residents" as they are all affectionally named. We also have about 30 pigeons of which 7 are babies, 5 juveniles, 2 racers, 5 woodpigeons, 3 collard doves and the rest adult ferals.

For myself in 2008 so far I have rescued 2 adult pigeons, 2 juveniles, 1 woodpigeon, 1 crow and a Canada Goose ( that was some story I can tell you!!) so have been quite busy on that front too.

Ted ( the owner of London Wildcare) is frantically trying to get two duck ponds excavated in time for the Open day on the 7th June 2008 plus get some new outside pens built for those ever growing, ever boisterous fox cubs.

In the winter I was getting up on a Saturday at 7.30am and going home at 5.00pm, now I am getting up at 6am and leaving at 7.30pm as we are getting so busy, plus we are now offering 24 hour advice, so yes when I get a call like I did last Saturday at 4.30am with an insomniac asking me about his bird box I wasn't at my best!!

Anyway it's all quite optomistic and Ted hopes that the hospital has another 11 years and more ( just done 11 years) to carry on and YES - We take and love pigeons ( all types.........!!!!)

I'll try and update this thread more regularly from now on - Shi ( Mr Squeaks - take note!!)

Tania xx


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

I want to hear about the Canada Goose!


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## TheSnipes (Apr 9, 2007)

Charis said:


> I want to hear about the Canada Goose!


And how it got to the UK!


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Charis said:


> I want to hear about the Canada Goose!


OK Charis, here goes. About 3 weeks ago, on my way home from work I spotted a Canadian Goose with a very broken wing. I phoned London Wildcare but they couldn't get anyone out to it which I wasn't too surprised as it is quite a long way to come out to so I tried the Swan Sanctuary whose line was constantly engaged. 

I then thought of a colleague Sarah at work as she loves animals and if she was still at the office at Hampton Wick, maybe she could drive down,help me with the goose and as she lives in Sutton drop me off at Wallington, but her phone went to voice mail. I then decided to rush home the 7 miles on the bike, with Plan B looming in my mind, rang my vet and begged a large enough crate to put a goose in. My plan was to catch the goose and then try and get on the train with it!! Sarah in the meantime had got home to Sutton and picked up my phone message and basically said that if I caught the goose, she would come over to Teddington and pick us up. So I went back to Teddington on the train, the goose was still there and I managed to grab him after feeding him bread and get him in the crate. Poor thing was quite distressed and his wing was bleeding quite badly.

I then rang Sarah who came over with her sister Lisa. We then took Albert, as he was namedto the hospital where Sarah and Lisa had a guided tour with Lisa wanting to steal some of the fox cubs and ducklings.... and then they took me home which was really nice of them!!

Anyhow Ted decided that the wing could be amputated ths saving the goose from being put too sleep and so Albert went to the vets the following Monday. Jackie texted me Monday night to say that he was doing fine after his operation but then Carly sent me a text the next morning to say that Albert had died in the night. I got an e-mail from Ted to say that the goose's death had really upset him as it was unexpected. Albert had died from unexpected complications which was a shame as technically, being such a strong goose should have made it. But sometimes they don't which is very sad. 

In any event I was just glad that I saved Albert from any more pain and suffering and the best was done for him albeit the outcome not being the ideal one.

So that's the story of Albert the goose!! Afraid not a happy ending

Tania xx


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

TheSnipes said:


> And how it got to the UK!


It hatched here!!


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

kittypaws said:


> OK Charis, here goes. About 3 weeks ago, on my way home from work I spotted a Canadian Goose with a very broken wing. I phoned London Wildcare but they couldn't get anyone out to it which I wasn't too surprised as it is quite a long way to come out to so I tried the Swan Sanctuary whose line was constantly engaged.
> 
> I then thought of a colleague Sarah at work as she loves animals and if she was still at the office at Hampton Wick, maybe she could drive down,help me with the goose and as she lives in Sutton drop me off at Wallington, but her phone went to voice mail. I then decided to rush home the 7 miles on the bike, with Plan B looming in my mind, rang my vet and begged a large enough crate to put a goose in. My plan was to catch the goose and then try and get on the train with it!! Sarah in the meantime had got home to Sutton and picked up my phone message and basically said that if I caught the goose, she would come over to Teddington and pick us up. So I went back to Teddington on the train, the goose was still there and I managed to grab him after feeding him bread and get him in the crate. Poor thing was quite distressed and his wing was bleeding quite badly.
> 
> ...


Poor thing. You did the best you could.


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## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE UPDATE, TANIA!!!

I was merrily going about my busines on the site when I saw that you had posted in another thread, WHICH made me think how LOOONG it had been since we had heard any new adventures from across the pond!

I can see that you have been kept busy and I am SOOOO GLAD to hear that the Hospital Center is going strong and send the MY STRONGEST BEST that things continue to go well and that any fundraising brings in LOTS of needed funds! 

Do say HI to Ted and please tell him I'm sending TONS OF HUGS!! He's the best!

Your story about Albert was heartbreaking! I was NOT prepared for the ending, which really came as a shock! You did a trememdous job in catching him and I know all was done that could be done. Thank goodness he didn't have to "suffer" in the "wild" with that broken wing! RIP Albert!

Looking forward to more updates as time permits!! You are one terrific lady, Tania!

With LOVE and HUGS

Shi & Squeaks & Dom & Gimie


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Tania, I have missed your updates. I'm glad the hospital is back in business but it sure sounds ultra busy. I'm really sorry about Albert. You did all you could to help him.

Do you think you could take some pictures of the fox cubs? I bet they are the cutest little guys.


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Hi Maggie,

I will take some pictures - some of them don't download very well onto this site ( for me for some reason) but I can probably PM them to you. Let me get some more on Friday - yes the cubs are ultra cute!!
Tania xx

Hi Shi,

Yes I'm back - I will do more regular updates - promise. I'll tell Ted that his biggest US fan sends loads of hugs......

x


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Tania, with our new "Albums" feature, you can easily download pictures - you don't even have to resize them. It is wonderful!


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Lady Tarheel said:


> Tania, with our new "Albums" feature, you can easily download pictures - you don't even have to resize them. It is wonderful!


Hi Maggie,

I have now posted a couple of pictures with a few more being assessed by the modertaors - hopefully dopey foxes will pass the censorship!!

Tania x

Dear everyone else,

I have been on annual leave and so went into London Wildcare for some extra days which of course I loved although this last Friday was very, very busy. We never stopped. Normally on a Friday when I am working at the bank, I would get to the hospital about 6pm and Carly and Elaine would go about 7 - 7.30pm - well despite me being there at 9.00am and being an extra pair of hands, they didn't leave until 9.30pm - we had animals and birds coming in all day and evening.

Over the winter months we mainly received pigeons and foxes, now every other call or animal at the door is a baby bird of some description and that keeps everyone very busy as they are so very delicate and need half hourly feeds!!

On Friday we had a seriously collapsed swan who had 3 x 500mls bags of Saline and duphamox intravenously given as well as 3 x 100ml gavages of rehydration fluid and critical care formula. This poor thing could hardly hold its head up and on it's first night spent it sprawled on a duvet in the treatment room with a cooling fan as he was buring a very high tempertaure. Unfortunately after 48 hours of very constant care he died - no physical signs of injury so obviously some kind of illness/internal problems/poison maybe? Other sad cases were a fox cub dragging her back legs around which after x-raying showed a broken spine, a pigeon rescued from Croydon with its wing torn off, a baby coot with terrible leg derformities, a choking vixen ( fox) who despite everyone's efforts we were unable to remove the object causing her to choke as too far down her throat so we had no option than to euthanase to ease her suffering ( she would have need a vet operation right there and then and that just wasn't physically possible) and a hedgehog with a seriously mangled leg and abdomen

On a lighter note we received a stunned parakeet who gave me a nice peck and seemed fine just concussed, another tawny owl chick ( we now have 3 of these little cuties), baby birds that were OK just orphaned or fledging too early and a poor Egyptian Gosling who had been hit on the head with a golf ball and was severely concussed. The guilty golfer was so distressed he brought the gosling over to us straightway despite being quite a long drive away.

I got bitten by a fox cub ( drew blood) , pecked by a seagull ( who also drew blood) and had one of my arms scratched quite badly by a very cross female mallard with very sharp nails!!

Romeo one of our resident pigeons ( ex-racer from Wimbledon) has various girlfriends and one of them whom we later called Posh, was "nesting" up in the loft. Elaine had seen an egg but Ted didn't want Posh and Romeo to have a baby there as he has 3 cats which as he said the squab(s) would just have "Cats dinner" written on them, so Elaine went to take the egg away from Posh. However when she removed Posh off the nest ( she was refusing to move), the egg was still attached and Elaine could see that Posh had not laid the egg completely, some of it was still inside. She and Carly carefully massaged the area with warm water and olive oil and were able to prize the egg out. Posh was placed in a heatcage to get over her ordeal with Ted prescribing a couple of days of cage rest and synolux in case there was an infection inside from the egg being stuck - plus being a pigeon, there was the possibility of there being another egg. 

Romeo did come inside to look for his lady but not finding her decided to go outside and began billing and cooing at another lady pigeon - he also has another lady friend called Juliet so really living up to his name. Posh was named as we decided like some ladies she was just "to posh to push"!!

Back there tomorrow so if there is any interesting snippets, I'll post Wednesday.

Tania xx


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Tania, I saw the pictures in the gallery. Those little fox are so cute. Did you mention one time that GB does not have rabies? Seems like I remember something about that. Over here, fox carry rabies a lot. There have been about 5 cases of rabid fox not too many miles from us in the past few days. Poor little guys.

I'm so sorry to read about all the deaths and such tragic ones. Wildlife really suffers a lot and much of it we don't even see.


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Well hello pigeon lovers...this is not actually kittypaws but Ted, who is piggybacking on her name...i don't actually have my own access to this site but Tania showed it to me and my computer has remembered her name...so she'll probably wallop me for this.

Anyway, thought i would just say that I have found Romeo the pigeon again in our food prep area with another new woman...he has his own harem. A couple of years ago Romeo had a ruptured airsac which wouldn't heal as they normally do. So, in the end, I fashioned an exhaust pip out of some surgical tubing and stapled it in place with a surgical staple gun....this worked for ages until the sac eventually healed and the tubed dislodged of its own accord. Romeo has never left us but instead seems to be king of pigeons with women falling at his feet.

We will soon add to his friends as we now have the 60 odd babies that Jayne brought us as a result of the bridge clearance work. i think some of you have donated towards this for which I am really grateful.

Anyway, I'd better clear off before tania loses her rag with me for abusing her site privileges...she's pretty violent as it happens...but just thought I'd say hi to all these people that get to read about me and my hospital. Nice to see so many people out there that actually like pigeons...we have four really lovely owls in at present but, in absolute honesty, I value them no more or no less than the next scrawny, line tangled, grubby feral that comes through our door. The only vermin on this planet are of the human variety and I meet enough of them in my work...if the world was just full of pigeons, we'd have no global warming, no wars, no poverty and no cruelty...tell that to the next person who wants to inform you that pigeons are worthless.

OK, enough ranting...take care folks
Ted Burden, Founder, London Wildcare....NOT kittypaws!


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

And this is the real Kittypaws!!

I showed Ted this site the other night and then frantically racked my brains to try and remember if I had said anything slanderous about him - I don't think I did. Anyway he seemed quite interested in the site so I showed him by logging in under my name.

Maggie, you asked about Rabies. No - we don't have rabies luckily. The worst I guess we could get off a fox is mange ( skin infection caused by small parasite) or some sort of infection from a bite - but we all have tetanus injections so should all be OK.

Talking of foxes, we took in a cub named Max quite a few weeks ago. He had mange and had to be kept separate from the other foxes and cubs - he used to look like scruffy and drandruffy and had to have regular baths and then covered in aloe vera gel and eventually he got over the mange and we put him in with other fox cubs which he loved as just wanted to play all the time.

He began fitting about a week ago - quite badly. He had to have a drip put in, wouldn't eat and looked awful - he was so lifeless you could take him out of the cage and cuddle him. On Saturday he was still poorly and I went and gave him some Complan by syringe about 3pm and he was still so very weak. Later on in the evening, I put him back in his normal cage and gave him some food which he began to eat - he then began to eat another plate of food and started to look so much better. I have just had some text messages from Jackie over the last couple of days to say that he has eaten loads and is soooo much better so I hope he will be OK. He is a dear little chap. Everyone thought he was going to die.

Anyway Ted has introduced himself and straight from the horses mouth as such HE LIKES PIGEONS - Can't be a bad thing for us pigeon people with wildlife hopsital owners advocating the humble pigeon!!

Tania xx


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

We have had some lovely animals in recently. We now have 8 owls - I have pictures of the tawny owls on my phone and hope to download those this week so I will post in my gallery. As well as the three tawnys we have a long eared adult owl and 4 baby little owls - these are very sweet. Last year we had hardly any owls so its definitely an owl time. We also have 5 baby bunnies brought in - apparently some children were trying to sell these babies and these are wild rabbits!! They have their eyes open and are very very sweet but need to have milk feeds by syringe. I haven't had the pleasure yet of doing this but I understand they are very wriggly!!- will try and get a picture of those also.

We had a call about a badger on Saturday who was collapsed in some woods. Rosie and Dennis ( two of our most experienced and probably most "mature" rescuers) were despatched and came back with this very feisty female whom we had to sedate before examing her. Unfortunately she was riddled with maggots and there were around and up inside her back end - there is no other thing you can do for animal with this problem than to humanely euthanase as the damage inside will be irreversible...... makes your skin crawl really. 

Jayne's pigeons squabs are doing really well - some of the older ones are really beautiful birds and the babies - well they are just cute. We have about 45-50 pigeons on porridge feeds with the 9am and 5pm shifts being the longest list to do.........

Ted had to do an emergency rescue about 8am on Saturday. I initially had a call at 6.00am ( I had just go up!) from a lady just up the road who had a mother duck and ducklings in her garde ( she had a pond) but she had seen a fox trying to get to the ducklings. She scared the fox off but was worried about the ducklings. I had no-one to ask what to do at this early hour but told her to ring back about 8.30 but to monitor the duck and ducklings. Ted appeared about 8 so I asked him and he said it would probably be best if we rescued the ducklings as they would get picked off by the foxes.

So I rang the lady back who told me that they were now following mum across a really busy road but that her neighbour was standing in the road. Anyway Ted rushed up the road and radioed Jackie to help and they managed to rescue the ducklings who would have probably perished - mum flew off ( they often do - which is sad but she will be OK) and the ducklings were brought back to the Centre and are now snuggling up wth a teddy in their nice warm brooder.

We still continue to get in lots of baby birds, many of which have been catted...

There is probably so much more to say but I think this will do. Will update next week unless of course my "alter ego" Ted decides to!!

Tania xx


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## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

HI, TANIA!!

MANY THANKS for the heads up about Ted posting!! SOMEHOW, I missed it!  So, I will include a note to him too in this post!!

I am soooo glad the fox is doing better AND the ducklings were rescued! I'm STILL serious about a book in the future. You have the most wonderful, heartwarming, exciting and sometime heartbreaking stories! There is never a dull moment! 

At the risk of repeating myself rolleyes THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR POSTING YOUR UPDATES!!

*******************************************************

*TO TED:

You ARE a rascal, I can tell! SO NICE TO HEAR FROM YOU! PLEASE DON'T BE A STRANGER! I'm sure Tania won't mind if you jump in with comments! Of course, it's easy to register yourself, if you wish.

I see your sense of humor is still intact! 

I, for one, DO remember your pigeon surgery on Romeo. I am DELIGHTED to hear he is doing well! Sounds like quite the character!

You and your staff are doing a BANG UP JOB and I wish you ALL THE SUCCESS IN THE WORLD!!

Your devoted "across the pond" fan,

Shi

Mr. Squeaks, Dom and Gimie send you feathered HIGH FIVES!!*


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Shi,

I have told Ted you have a special message for him.

Again I am a little tardy in posting but life just seems so busy. This is the first Sunday in a while that I have had time to do such things.

We have had 3 badgers in - 2 of which died, however one which was brought in last Saturday after wandering around a busy town survived. It has been monitored carefully, justs eats and sleeps and was released last Friday.

WE have 8 owls (3 tawnys and 5 little owls), we have 4 baby bunnies ( there was 5 but one died) they were being hauled around a pub by someone unsavoury trying to sell them. A kind person bought the rabbits and brought them to us. These are wild rabbits - they are very cute. I have pictures which I need to download off my phone, but I will do and post them onto the gallery.

I myself have taken in two pigeons this week ( see my other thread - Nemo and Gollum) which have their own life and death stories to tell.

Jayne's ( CanaryJayne) pigeons continue to do well, with some now big enough to go into the aviary and a couple old enough to be released. 

We had a very small squab brought in yesterday - but his pin feathers show he is going to brown!! He was in a lady's loft. She had a hole in her roof and pigeons were getting in and out. She decided to evict the pigeons, but then realised there were eggs and two babies. One of the babies died but the other she broght to us. He is very sweet - she was very surprised that we took in feral pigeons!! Er yes - we have loads - we also have a lot of woodpigeons too at the moment.

Other animals we have are a baby weasel - he is lovely, his eyes aren't open yet and he is on milk feeds but he also likes raw meat - in fact when you are feeding him bloody bits of offal, he licks your fingers then begins to chew them........ We have a few adult foxes and our fox cubs are growing fast with a few now at "soft release" sites. These are when people will have pens in their gardens - they feed the fox cubs and as they get bigger, then leave the pens open but still leave food and slowly but surely the cubs venture out often returning for food, but eventually going on their way to adulthood - people who give us this kind of assistance are very much appreciated as it makes the foxes transition to a wild life a lot easier.

We continue to get in baby birds and had two swifts also which are birds that never land on the ground, but eat on the wing - they only over stop when they are nesting or feeding their young. These are very beautiful. We also have many corvids ( magpies, jays, jackdaws and crows) who are very endearing.

The baby starlings screech when you feed them - the noise is deafening, but you try and shut it out. Other animals and birds we have are ducks, geese, a tufted duck, a cormorant, hedgehogs, gulls, squirrels, parakeets, mice, an adult rabbit, blackbirds, robins, greenfinches, goldfinches, feral pigeons, collard doves, great tits and of course a few resident cats..........

As per this time of year it is very busy, but it is a lovely place to be part of where we can help the animals and birds that need it.
I'll try and post next week.

Tania x


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## Noisy_minor (Jun 20, 2008)

wow sounds like they got there work cut out for them. as soon as i get my pay pal account acvtivated, (just waiting on a bank statment) ill send a donation. i think other animal "welfare" agencys around the globe shoud take a leaf out of Teds book. 

and oneday when i make it over there ill come check out his facilitys too

Cheers


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## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

Just flying in to say "HOWDY!" Tania...

And, I am not surprised you are busier than ever! I AM surprised at the variety of wildlife you have! What a wonderful place to work!

As always, sending you, Ted, staff and critters...

Love, Hugs and Scritches

Shi
with Squeaks, Dom, Gimie, Twiggy, Gypsy and Timmy


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Catching up - Life very busy..........

Firstly I would start by saying that in the past two weeks I have rescued two pigeons and 1 collared dove. The two pigeons' stories are under the title Nemo and Gollum, but to quickly recap, Gollum, I found dodging traffic in a busy town and Nemo was floating in the River Thames - both doing very well with Nemo being released. The collared dove was sitting in the gutter. He had flown into a window and was stunned, but 24 hours with me and he was ready to go. Very cute little thing - sat on my finger whilst concussed.....

The Wildlife hopsital continues to be busy, busy with yesterday definitely being a pigeon day!! We had 3 racing pigeons within 24 hours, one of which had Dutch leg bands ( So he had flown a long way.....) - all racers skinny and in need of a feed up and some TLC - Mind you they still weigh heavily against ferals. Other pigeon patients yesterday was a week old squab ( caught by a cat), a young woodpigeon, a very injured adult collared dove, a collapsed adult woodpigeon which from his injuries looks like he may have been hit by a car, and another very skinny feral.

Jayne ( CanaryJayne) brought in a pigeon with string injuries which resulted in the pigeon having a little bit of general anaesthetic ( isolflurane and oxygen mix) and having a toe removed. Once he came round from his sleep and was placed on nice soft bedding, his appetite appeared and he began to devour his seed.

We have the baby weasel still and another with a broken leg, quite a few fox cubs that seem to be getting into trouble ( they are now leaving Mum and Dad and finding that the world is a tough place to be if you are a fox!!), quite a few swifts which are migratory birds that live on the wing and only land when they are nesting, a heron, a poorly seagull who refused his gourmet dinner that I made him preferring whitebait!! ( which is good really but more expensive...)

We also have had a few dometicated animals in the last week and we don't take domesticated animals!! A poor tabby cat that was dropped in by a little old man who said it was a stray. Although we don't take domesticated animals, Ted has a soft spot for cats ( his pet cats were all "Dumped at the Centre" cats and one is a stray that he rescued on holiday) so the Tabby was allowed to stay. She seemed to be in a lot of pain and when seen by the vet was diagnosed with a large tumour on her liver which had spread to her spine. The tumour was inoperable and so the kindest thing was done for the cat.

A young pet black rabbit was also brought in after being found in the road and horribly, a ginger and white hamster which had been found in a bin tied up in a plastic bag - these two are both doing well at the hospital with Kimberly (staff nurse) showing a motherly interest in both!!

Baby birds are slowly not coming in so much but we are getting a few fledglings - caught by cats ( of course).

So still plenty to do but a great, great place to spend Saturday - I love it!!
Tania xx


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## little bird (Aug 11, 2006)

Great update, Tania.......very interesting.


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Thanks for the update, Tania! Whew! You've all certainly been busy of late!

Terry


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## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

Thank you so much for the update, Tania! I GUESS YOU ARE BUSY!! YIKES!!

That is so sad about the Hampster! How wonderful he was found in time! Just canNOT understand how someone could do that!!

Wishing, you, Ted, staff and ALL the animals

LOVE, HUGS and SCRTCHES 

Shi and the gang


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## Noisy_minor (Jun 20, 2008)

poor little hampster i cant begin to think what these people are thinking when doing something like this, actually im not going there. 

Its great to hear all your stories makes my day a little better. sounds like an awsome place to work. ill be sure to drop in oneday when i get enough $$$$ to come for a holiday.


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