# Update from the Wildlife Centre ( London)



## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Hi,

Well as requested, I was asked to update on my new role as a volunteer
at the London Wildcare Hopsital - so here goes:-

3rd week:-

Some of the pidgies in the Bird ward have moved on ( no nowhere
horrible....). Pinky and Perky, the two juveniles are now in a bigger
cage with 3 others so that they can socialise and spread their wings a
bit. Perky likes to sleep in the food bowl and the others have to peck
their seeds around him.

The kestrel has gone outside into an aviary so that he can strengthen his
fractured wing which has now healed and show everyone when he will be 
ready to go.

Two other pidgies from the ward, one with a bad foot ( human hair 
damage) and another which is the sweetest pigeon I ever saw and I'm 
going to Google a bit later on pigeons, because to me she looks like a 
stock dove, black eyes, makes a peeping sound and smaller - but she's 
not a baby -she was caught up in netting outside a shop so I'm going to 
look into her further - as if she isn't a true feral I think she needs 
to be released where she was rescued - these two have gone into the 
outside avairy to hone up on their flying again after being cooped up.

Five new inmates in the bird ward from last week - a squeaker - adorable 
- maybe about 16 days old - peeping and being cuddled big time by the 
volunteers  - Laura, Kimberley, Margaret and Karen all had a cuddle 
with this adorable baby and he put on 40g in 3 days which they say is "a 
lot" !!  There is another bigger squeaker probably nearly fledged 
but still squeaking.

There is another feral with a broken leg sporting a bright purple 
bandage to hold his splint in place, a woodie who was caught by a cat 
who is no pushover to catch and finally a female black bird with a 
broken foot who is going mad being cooped up - bless her.

I was actually put in a different ward when I got there. This contained 
the two albino squirrels, 3 grey squirrels who I had to clean out and 
one escaped - Mary - as named by Karen - The door is always shut in this 
ward as Mary - is a keen escapogogist - It took two of us over 20 
minutes to finally capture madam  - they are fast and they 
bite!!!

The PMV pigeons and the blackbird are doing OK. The baby with PMV is 
still severly disabled but putting on weight - he gets a mix of porridge 
and farleys rusk 4 times a day - the two adult pigeons are OK - one is 
very quiet and doesn't do a lot of head tilting expect when I went to 
get him - the stress I guess - he is a beautiful pigeon too - really, 
really handsome - and another not so handsome bird who bless, tried to 
eat his seed - getting some down and tossing a lot of seed - but these 
birds are weighed 3 times a week and if any are lacking in weight gain, 
they are supplemented with pigeon cakes or gavaged.

The last two birds in this ward are a crow who has a problem with his 
eye - he has eye drops and is very alert!! And the best bird this week - 
a herring gull - which is a big old thing - he was brought in after 
being hit by a car and then attacked by crows - he has a washing up bowl 
of water which he bathes in and a rock to stand on in his pen - when 
Kathryn and I cleaned him out, we left him walk around the ward - he was 
just so calm, flexed his wings a bit, but no way is he ready to fly yet 
- he was quite unperterbed and had a bit of a preen whilst free - when 
we made up his food - very "posh" cat food - not the run of the mill 
stuff - with cut up baby chick ( I didn't do that!!) he decided to wander - very leisurely back to his pen - he is lovely and such a character.

I then gave Margaret a hand with the hedgehogs, one of who decided that 
after being nicely cleaned out, it would be a good idea to try and walk 
under his food bowl ( its one of those double plastic bowls that cats 
have) and consequently tipped his water and cat food all over his nice 
clean cage - so he was hoisted out and we made him all nice and dry 
again - for 5 minutes I expect!!

So that was that - after some heated up vegetable lasagne I started to 
leave but then someone brought in a weasel - so I had a look at him as I 
have never seen a weasel before and then set off home - happy and 
contented with my days work and the birds I got to cuddle and 
soothe......

One of the fox cubs that Karen was rearing, died so she just has the one 
now.

Tania xxx

PS - I forget to say it isn't all glamour!! There is a lot of sweeping, 
mopping and cleaning to do also but you don't seem to mind..


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Hi Tania,

Thank you for sharing your week in wonderful detail. It sounds like quite a rewarding and fun-filled (but I'm sure not always) week, as well as hard work.

Please don't forget to take good care of yourself, too, okay? You are an important person and an intricate part of the whole rehab process for the birds and animals at the hospital.


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Treesa,

Oh I'm OK - I love it there - I truly do  - its going to get busier though - we expect to start receiving babies.......... birds, squirrels and foxes and maybe the odd badger or deer - then it get really manic apparently.........!! 

Tania xx


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

A nice varied day! THanks for the update.

I have never seen a baby stock dove, but the adults are distinctive once you know what you are looking at:

You can scroll down this link for more fantastic photos:

http://www.suesbirdphotos.co.uk/STOCKDOVE.htm

The main thing you have already mentioned and that is the black eyes.

Feral pigeons have irridescence right round their necks and chest, whereas with stock doves it only goes round the back and sides of the neck and is a beautiful green colour.

Stock doves have the same colour beak as a wood pigeon, yellow towards the end and a bit pink towards the top.

The wing bars on a stock dove are broken whereas in a blue bar feral pigeon they are continuous.


Cynthia


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Tania, thank you again for a wonderful post. I was sad to read that one of the fox cubs died. I think they are so beautiful. 

The stock dove is lovely. Are they pigeons but called doves? The iridescent green that is just on the back of his neck is very unusual and makes it stand out .

Could you explain more about feeding the herring gull bits of baby chicks? I hate to even think of it but would like to know more.


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## Whitefeather (Sep 2, 2002)

Good Morning (afternoon) to a 'very busy' Tania.  

Thanks for your update, although I felt like I had done a days work after reading it.  
You certainly do get a variety of critters in to care for. I can see where the job would be so rewarding.  

I hope you are able to enjoy your days off to the hilt. 

Cindy


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

> The stock dove is lovely. Are they pigeons but called doves?


All doves are pigeons, it is only recently that there has been a tendency to call smaller pigeons "doves". The woodpigeon , despite its size, used to be called the ring necked dove. But the stock dove is not a descendant of the rock dove so it is not a close relative of the feral pigeon.

Cynthia


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## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

Once again, MANY THANKS for your wonderful update, Tania!!

You certainly have a variety! How lucky the center is to have such caring people such as yourself! I'm a pooper cleaner upper from waaay back, so really wouldn't mind that type of "dirty work."

I know your future adventures will only whet our appetite for more!

LOVE and HUGS TO ALL!!!


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Cynthia,

Thanks for the great photos - I don't think he/she is a stock dove - she was smaller that a normal feral and very delicate looking with dark eyes and grey legs - I think she may be a feral but a youngish one - really, really pretty - perhaps she has some "posh" pigeon in her!!

Maggie - the chicks - well I think they just give him that because he needs protein and gulls will eat fish etc and probably small dead animals he does get nicecat food and tinned tuna too. 

I don't like the chicks bit really - poor little things  - but they are male chicks - a by product from the egg industry  - I think the "lucky" ones are gassed - I have heard horror stories about how some are "disposed of" 

Mr Squeaks - always a joy to hear from you - poop is OK actually - the pigeons poops are so much nicer than hedgehogs I can tell you - hogs eat cat food so you can imagine what their poop is like  but its OK....

Cindy - I get Sundays off - today ( cleaning, catching up with e-mails, viewing my favourite websites, paperwork, shopping and feeding the local ducks!!) , but I don't see the Wildlife Centre as a chore or something I have to do - at the moment iIam loving every minute of it so I want to go and be part of the team and yes we are getting a variety of animals in.

Long may it continue. 

Tania xx


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## jazaroo (Jan 1, 2006)

Tania,

Please do not stop with your updates. I do look forward to them.

Outstanding job! 

All the best,

Ron


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## Feather (Dec 8, 2005)

Tania, 

Thank you so much for the update. I will be looking forward to more of your adventures.

Feather


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## Rooster2312 (Mar 8, 2006)

Hi Tania,

Great update! Your work sounds really interesting and rewarding . Looking forward to this week's update.

Lindi  

p.s. I got the job that I was interviewed for last week, well actually, that job turned out to be a temporary position, but they offered me a permanent position today. I have also recieved a letter for interview for the job I wanted in the first place, so will attend that also and see what happens. Either way, I at least have a job now so that is great


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## Lin Hansen (Jan 9, 2004)

Tania - Great update. Thanks for keeping us informed on all that's going on at the Wildlife Centre. 

Linda


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## Lin Hansen (Jan 9, 2004)

Lindi,

Congratulations on the all the job offers!

Glad to hear that you even may get your first choice job!

Best of luck!

Linda


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## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

*CONGRATULATIONS, LINDI!!!*  

Please let us know what your final decision will be!


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Hi Lindi,

I am betting now that you have a job, you will get EVEN more job offers. It always happens that way.  Congratulations, and have a wonderful work week.

Tania, we will be looking forward to your update too.


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

Well done, Lindi!

Cynthia


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Well today I was on "outside"duties which mean't that I wouldn't be with the birds in their nice new ward and it was drizzling so it sounded cold and miserable but.... the advert for volunteers says that "if you don't mind getting wet, cold, dirty and deal with smelly messes and perhaps be bitten or pecked at then don't volunteer" - As it was I would rather have a whole repetoire anyway as I can be more useful. 

So outside work consisted of feeding the ferals in the aviary - these are ones that are flexing their flying muscles for eventual release ( apart from two recovering PMV birds which will just stay in there). Then I had to change the food and water for the woodpigeons and collared doves in another aviary and then the magpie aviary - as you can imagine there is a lot of flurry of feathers overhead but I never got pooped on once.

I then helped feed the ducks and geese plus made the two seagulls their food of sprats and fishy cat food - Did you know that pigeons like fishy cat food ? - well the ones at London Wildcare too - they are very naughty as they get a couple of jugfuls of seed thrown out to them every day plus any leftovers - and you never saw so many fat and glossy pigeons as this lot!!

So I threw some of the sprats to the seagulls so that they got their fill.

Then I swept out the residents foxes pen and scratched Dog on the head - she is a cutie.

I checked on Pebbles my PMV pigeon had settled into her new cabin in the Isolation ward which she is good company with two other PMV's pigeons and a blackbird with the same condition.

They also have a baby pigeon about 10 days old - he is adorable and is fussed often..... He is in an incubator to keep him snug and warm.

The kestrel with the broken wing is in a separate aviary and he is now flying around so they hope to release him this week - he is on a diet of dead chicks - one of which he had dragged into the tree with him.

They also have a few foxes in at the moment - 3 - road traffic accidents and two with mange - one of the mange foxes is really pitiful  - extremely poor condition and very thin. She is quite vicious too - she bit one of the volunteers today ( 81 year old Beryl who acts as though she was 50!!) and Phylida also got bit by a squirrel so a bit of blood letting.

Anyway there's load more to say but don't want to bore - oh a lady brought a stock dove in just I was leaving - this had been caught by her cat - poor thing.

Tania xx


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

THanks for the update Tania. How is the blackbird doing?

Cynthia


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Tania, I look forward to Saturdays and your posts so never feel you are boring us. I feel so bad for the fox with mange. That stuff can get really bad. Isn't it great you can check out your little rescue. Not many people get a chance to do that after they turn them over to someone else.

Now, if you have time, don't leave out a single thing to share with us.


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## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

I agree! You are the only one who is giving a visit by visit account of behind the scenes in a Wildlife Center that most do not experience!

Being on the outside looking in is QUITE different than being on the INSIDE and in the thick of things!!

Your comments are always anticipated!!

I, too, hope for the best for the fox and other injured ones!!

As always,

HEALING THOUGHTS, LOVE and HUGS to all!!  

Shi


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Cynthia,

Do you mean the blackbird with PMV or the one with the broken foot?

The PMV bird is OK - very stressed - she has to have her cabin covered up with a towel so that she is kept in the dark - I didn't see the one with the broken foot in the ward but they could have put her outside ( both blackbirds are girls because they are brown!) in the aviary to see how she was getting on - she could certainly fly and the foot although all bent over didn't seem to be bothering her that much.

Yes the poor fox with mange - he has it pretty bad - but mange can be treated so I am sure he will make it with the right medication and of course lots of good food.

The resident foxes had their dinner yesterday which was dog food - I had the lovely task of washing the dog food  yep you heard it right - they get a lot of donated dog food and the chunks in *gravy* upset foxes delicates tums  - so if you have chunks in gravy you have to wash the gravy off - can you think of anthing nicer that diving you hands into tins of dog food and then rinsing off the gravy? - another lovely task at the Centre. They also had in with this - dead chicks and mini jam swiss rolls ( foxes like sweet things) - all in together - Dog one of the foxes, then removed a chick and a swiss roll and buried them in two separate places in the pen - whether she thinks the others won't find it I don't know - they are all so cute......

I also know that I won't be looking after fox cubs - no-one has told me I won't I just know I can't. Some of the staff were saying about how busy it is going to get soon and that we will inundated with fox cubs, baby birds and baby squirrels. With the fox cubs you are not allowed to speak to them - seriously - because they can get imprinted and not be releasable (same with owl chicks) so when you are cleaning out fox cubs you cannot talk - I can keep quiet in most situations but the sight of gorgeous little cubs - I just won't be able to stop myself saying things like - " oh aren't you lovely?" or things like that - if they catch you talking to the cubs they will ask you to leave FOREVER - absolutely true because it means they could be stuck with some cubs and the whole idea of the hospital is not a sanctuary but a rehab and release centre with very few exceptions.... baby squirrels and birds - you can talk to.( Thank goodness) 

Tania x


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

Hi Tania,

It was the blackbird with PMV that I was worried about.

Thank you for all the "handy tips" on wild life. I will remember the effect of gravy on a fox's stomach. Non-rescuers like me would only know that the foxes ate the dog food and have no inkling of the effect that it had.

I would find it very difficult to keep my mouth shut around cubs although I often wonder why I am reassuring an animal that probably finds the very sound of my voice terrifying.


Cynthia


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Cynthia,

You are so right - we think that perhaps our voices soothe them when probably it doesnt - not in all cases but in a lot.

The blackbird with the PMV - she is still tilting her head and as I say has to be covered up as getting stressed - I will take a look at her notes next week to see *really how *she is doing - i.e. improving - Pebbles is in the cabin underneath so I'll be checking her notes too and also the squeaker's as he sometimes gests so stressed he can't stand up - it is very sad but they think he is improving........ The other PMV bird is an adult - another very quiet soul bit like Pebbles and very handsome - the other one they had in there with PMV has shown definitive signs of improving and is now in the aviary - all the birds in the aviary have different coloured rings so they know who is who!! But you can see the PMV bird as he still has it a bit.

Yes I just know I will talk to the cubs - I talk to all the animals and birds there - its hard not to. 

Tania x


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## Lin Hansen (Jan 9, 2004)

Tania,

I just wanted to than you for continuing to share your updates of your work at the Wildlife Centre.

I really enjoy hearing about it and I am learning a lot!

Thanks
Linda


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Thanks for another informative and interesting update, Tania. Keep 'em coming.


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

*5th Saturday*

Ok - another shift done and still really loving it.

Was placed on the Small Animals and Isolation Ward, which are the squirrels, the PMV patients, and a couple of other pigeons and a dove.

Pebbles my PMV pigeon was in there and although she dropped 4g in weight is still a healthy 324 g - I got to clean her out and weigh her and of course give her a cuddle – and as I have posted in the " Pebbles the PMV pigeon" thread, out of the 5 PMV birds she is the easiest to handle.

The blackbird, Cynthia, is still thriving though still showing signs of PMV - he scares me the most as he is so quick and makes the most distressing noise when you try and catch him. Because he is so delicate, I worry about hurting him and I nearly let go of him twice (door always shut thank goodness) he really isn't too happy with confinement. The 3 other pigeons are two other adults, one, which grunts and is puts up a fight and another which is very, very strong but give me pigeons any day to handle than a blackbird. The squeaker with PMV is getting bigger and still has the disease quite severely but he is improving slowly and no-one is giving up on him yet - he still can’t feed on his own but is being force-fed 3 times a day.

The other birds in are another juvenile (still has a few yellow feathers but not many) who has canker and another with a problem with his leg, which Ted says and I quote

_*“I’m struggling to get some (any) sort of a repair to a pigeon in SA ICU with a longitudinal tib frac on the right leg but I think there may be some soft tissue damage and entrapment, which will result in possible neuro issues and a mal or non-union. But he’s a cute pigeon and I’d love to get him walking again…successfully repaired fractured leg on Bird Ward 2 or 3 and he’s walking on it quite well now…very satisfying!*_

And the baby that was in the incubator - he is now out of the incubator and in a cage and this little birdy is soooo sweet  - he peeped the whole time I was in there (about 3 hours) and after a while I didn’t notice the noise  - he got about 4 cuddles during the 3 hours (I disinfect my hands with alcohol rub between every bird of course) and the staff are really pleased with him. He was on four feeds a day - they had dropped it to 3 and now 2 because he is feeding himself millet and his little crop is often quite full but he peeps even when he is eating - he is absolutely adorable - if not a little noisy!! 

The final patient in there is a collard dove, caught by a cat - this little birds was a good girl to handle too - she has a small tear in her crop so that is being treated.

The main bird ward has quite a few pigeons in - they have a roller too - nothing wrong with him, just landed exhausted in someone’s garden - he is a red pigeon - the owner has been contacted and advised us that we could keep him or if we wanted we could Amtrak the bird back to Hertfordshire- we have decided to keep him as the owner does not seem that bothered and James is worried that the owner may ring its neck! 

The catted stock dove is still there - slowly getting better and the kestrel is still perfecting his flying skills but I think he will be set free soon.

Finally two pigeons were released from the aviary - one is a racer - poor thing looked quite shocked when he was set free - you could see he was really confused about the whole thing - but after 10 minutes of walking around in the duck pond area, he flew up into the tree where the free flying ferals hang out - he is still banded so he will be noticed if he isn’t coping - but they have quite a few racers in the feral flock and they get fed every single day and there is plenty of roosting spots - Ted currently has a pair building a nest in the eaves of the building again.

Well this was supposed to be a short post - but its rather long again - I put lots of pigeon things in so hopefully it will be OK to read.

Tania xxxx


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

Thank you for a most interesting update, Tania.

Poor little blackbird! I think I know the sound he makes because I heard a mournful wail when one was caught by a hawk in my garden! Because pigeons are so adaptable I think that they are better able to cope with PMV than other birds.

Strange that the collared dove is easy to handle. Those that I have held have been a squirmy mass of bone and feather! Even Poppet, who loves being stroked and preened hates to be held.

Cynthia


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## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

Tania, PLEASE...no more apologies on length of post or not mentioning more pigeons...

We absolutely look forward to your updates! YOU ARE UNIQUE on the site in posting a Wildlife Center Diary! Your experiences read like a best seller with all the mystery and intrigue, both good, bad and sad.

As we read, we are there WITH you! WE rejoice or cry too! AND, the knowledge we gain is priceless!

From the bottom of my heart, I thank you and all the care givers at the Center. 

With LOVE, HUGS and SCRITCHES TO ALL!

Shi


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## Feather (Dec 8, 2005)

mr squeaks said:


> Tania, PLEASE...no more apologies on length of post or not mentioning more pigeons...
> 
> We absolutely look forward to your updates! YOU ARE UNIQUE on the site in posting a Wildlife Center Diary! Your experiences read like a best seller with all the mystery and intrigue, both good, bad and sad.
> 
> ...



Tania,

Thank you so much for taking the time to make these updates. I am learning alot, so the longer the better.

Good Job,
Feather


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

cyro51 said:


> Thank you for a most interesting update, Tania.
> 
> Poor little blackbird! I think I know the sound he makes because I heard a mournful wail when one was caught by a hawk in my garden! Because pigeons are so adaptable I think that they are better able to cope with PMV than other birds.
> 
> ...


Yes I thought that the noise that the blackbird was making would bring everyone rushing in to see what I was doing to her. Mind you she got her own back by giving my arm a strong peck, enough to make the area a bit pink - I hope she felt better after doing that!  I do feel for her as she isn't coping too well with human contact whereas the pigeons are much more accomodating, well kinda of - as I say some are more fesity than others! 

The collard dove - well I was expecting a bit of a fight and feathers flying but she is pretty calm but I guess it could be trauma. We had an adult in a few weeks back and I had to put her into a box when weighing and she gave me an almighty struggle when I tried to get her out of the cage.

I think the bigger the bird the less worried I am about hurting them. Mind you we had to get the pigeon out with the fractured tibia and of course you are consious that with a broken bone you have to be so careful. That can be hard when the rest of the pigeon is fighting you!!

Another thing I forgot to say is a baby wild rabbit has been brought in. It is acting quite strangely with co-ordination problems - they have a vet student at the moment doing job experience and she is wondering if it has a neurologcal problem as it keeps tilting its head back - apparently rabbits and lambs can get this??? Sounds like a mammalian PMV!

Some of the staff looked a bit despondant when she said this thinking they may have to put the rabbit to sleep, but then this student said that often or not they grow out of it( well the lambs do) , so fingers crossed for this bunny - it is ever so sweet ( and very, very frightened )

Tania xx


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Tania, thank you for another great, informative post. You tell the stories so well, I feel like I'm there with you. I agree with you about feeling more comfortable with pigeons - the songbirds, generally, seem much more frail. 

I can't wait until you start working with the baby songbirds though. I hope you get in a good variety to learn how sweet they are. My favorites were the cardinal babies but I don't know if you have them in GB.


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## sabina (Mar 11, 2006)

Tania,
I was just saying to Aias yesterday, "hmm no wildlife centre updates recently." So I was glad to see you had posted again.  Your posts are always interesting and fun to read (whether about pigeons or any of the other animals)...you never have to worry about boring us, that is for sure!!
Sabina


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## Jane01 (Feb 25, 2007)

Thanks for your update.


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## jazaroo (Jan 1, 2006)

Hi Tania, I just read your latest update, interesting as always. Keep up the good work.

All the best,

Ron


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Lady Tarheel said:


> I can't wait until you start working with the baby songbirds though. I hope you get in a good variety to learn how sweet they are. My favorites were the cardinal babies but I don't know if you have them in GB.


Hi Maggie,

Ooh the baby songbirds I am petrified as they are so tiny, but I am hoping a lot of them will just open those big gaping beaks and we can just drop bits of worm in!!

Re the cardinals - no we don't have them in the UK - I do have one in my garden though - a plaster of paris one that I bought in Virginia - it has a thermometer next to it and sits on my garden fence - they are beautiful birds - I think I would dance a jig if I saw one in my garden!! 

The baby birds are due probably in a couple of weeks - we have 3 baby squirrels in at the moment - the first of the year and they can be no longer than 2 inches - they are weeny!! They also have to be fed and toiletted every 2 hours - luckily these little creatures are being cared for by an expert! 

Tania x


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

sabina said:


> Tania,
> I was just saying to Aias yesterday, "hmm no wildlife centre updates recently." So I was glad to see you had posted again.  Your posts are always interesting and fun to read (whether about pigeons or any of the other animals)...you never have to worry about boring us, that is for sure!!
> Sabina



Sabina,

I am always happy to update - I just don't want to turn into a wildlife bore - a lot of people seem to like them - I guess I can post and if people read them, they read them..... 

Thanks to everybody who gives me feedback it is appreciated but you know what - I absolutely love helping out there - I wish I had done it years ago!! 

Tania x


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Tania, the baby songbirds will be a piece of cake for you! All you usually have to do is speak to them and that big mouth opens wide and you pop food in. They are pretty easy to care for when they are babies. Their poop is usually encapsulated for a few days so it is really easy to clean after them.

You will love it.


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Today - still no baby birds. 

There are four fox cubs which we are not allowed to talk to and 2 week-old baby squirrels ( eyes not open) in at the moment.

I was on the bird ward today - which was nice - mostly feral pigeons. The stock dove is still with us - I got to handle her today - beautiful bird. The baby squeaker that continually peeps continues to peep and want cuddles which he gets and he is now on what I call "Big Boy" food  - none of that baby porridge or dove mix for him, but what the adults eat - and he is gaining weight as if going out of fashion. He is ultra cute!!

We had a bit of a bust up today - there is a largish cage with two pigeons in there - Charlie and Jayden who were both found as baby pigeons under a railway brigde and raised at the Centre. They stay in this cage to get those wings working before they get out into the aviary. Well I was asked to introduce two other pigeons into the cage - one very timid pigeon ( easy to handle) and one not so timid - so I did and oh OMG there was a great kerfufflle - Jayden decided that he didn't like the two new guests and began to chase them around - the timid one who we have called Jessie ( Karen the nurse is Scottish and called him a "jessie" which is like saying he is a bit of a girl or a wimp), was running away from Jayden and then the other new pigeon who we called Tyson (after Mike Tyson) suddenly started fighting with Jayden - I was really worried but Karen told me they were just getting the pecking order right. Well after say 10 minutes it all quietened down, Jayden decided to go to sleep and Jessie went and sat with Charlie  and Tyson just sat and watched - so I think they will all be OK!!

Saw Pebbles and her other PMV friends ( no more new ones thank goodness) - the blackbird still has it quite severe and the squeaker is getting really big now and his symptoms although still quite bad are improving - he has surprised everyone.

Saddish thing as I was leaving - Ted was called out to collect a woodpigeon which was lying on a lawn. The pigeon is very thin and has a bad case of canker. He was placed into an incubator wrapped in a towel, but he cannot hold his head up ( hence the towel which is giving some support) and his breathing is very laboured - the staff are not sure if he will survive - but they have medicated him and made him as comfortable as they can and he will be watched carefully - I hope he is there next week. 

Nothing much else to say really - the baby rabbit is still with us and the kestrel still is not deemed fit enough to go so he is going a bit stir crazy.

Thanks for reading......

Tania x


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## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

Well, Tania, THANK YOU FOR POSTING!!

I know I speak for ALL when I say we look forward to our weekly updates at the Center!

I DO hope you are keeping all your posts! I STILL think that a book is in the making!!

Looking forward to next week and anything in between!!


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

I, too, really enjoy your posts, Tania. I hope you will keep 'em coming.

Terry


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## TerriB (Nov 16, 2003)

Interesting variety of beasties you see there. That would be so difficult, not being able to interact with the cute little fox cubs. I know they need to stay wild, but I bet they are very cute!!!


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Hi Tania,

You really describe everything quite well, as I picture it in my mind.

Thanks for the new update.


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

TerriB said:


> Interesting variety of beasties you see there. That would be so difficult, not being able to interact with the cute little fox cubs. I know they need to stay wild, but I bet they are very cute!!!


They are very, very cute and very vocal!!  

Tania x


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## John_D (Jan 24, 2002)

Hi Tania - I do enjoy your updates. Is the rabbit the one which had the strange neurological symptoms which I think you said lambs can also get?

John


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## jazaroo (Jan 1, 2006)

Tania, as usual, thanks for the informative update.

Ron


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## Chris Y (Mar 5, 2007)

kittypaws said:


> Saddish thing as I was leaving - Ted was called out to collect a woodpigeon which was lying on a lawn. The pigeon is very thin and has a bad case of canker. He was placed into an incubator wrapped in a towel, but he cannot hold his head up ( hence the towel which is giving some support) and his breathing is very laboured - the staff are not sure if he will survive - but they have medicated him and made him as comfortable as they can and he will be watched carefully - I hope he is there next week.


Sounds very familiar. We had a wood pigeon brought into our centre yesterday with canker - it was just found sitting down somewhere. Got some meds into it and some exact, but less than an hour later it had regurgitated and sadly died  Despite it breathing well it just was not responsive at all - like it was on another planet. Hopefully yours will have better luck.


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## Feather (Dec 8, 2005)

Thank you so much Tania for sharing your adventures with us.

Feather


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

John_D said:


> Hi Tania - I do enjoy your updates. Is the rabbit the one which had the strange neurological symptoms which I think you said lambs can also get?
> 
> John



Hi John,

Yes it is the same rabbit - it seems a little more livelier and its symptoms less pronounced - I'm not sure what the outcome for this rabbit will be but he has been at the Centre for 2 weeks now and the staff are seeing how he progresses. Hate to say the word but he is ultra cute!! 

Tania xx


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Feather said:


> Thank you so much Tania for sharing your adventures with us.
> 
> Feather


You are welcome - I love going there - its the best day of my week so yes if people don't mind me waffling on - then I don't mind sharing!! 

Tania x


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

Thanks for the update Tania.

I hope that the woodpigeon makes it. Feral pigeons with canker are lucky because they come to our attention earlier and are easier to catch than wood pigeons and collared doves.

Cynthia


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

cyro51 said:


> Thanks for the update Tania.
> 
> I hope that the woodpigeon makes it. Feral pigeons with canker are lucky because they come to our attention earlier and are easier to catch than wood pigeons and collared doves.
> 
> Cynthia


Hi Cynthia and everybody,

I am afraid the woodpigeon died  - I e-mailed Karen the nurse there and she confirmed that he had died - he did look pretty sick  - it is so sad poor thing - as you say the ferals are easier to catch than the woodies. At least he's not suffering anymore.

Tania x


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

I am sorry about your wood pigeon and about the one Chris mentioned.

I have only had one woodpigeon with canker, it was a fledgeling. It also regurgitated and died. I hadn't fed it anything but it regurgitated yellow liquid. They are very difficult to treat as they can die of an adrenalin rush. Even an injection can kill them.

Cynthia


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Another shift over and this one after a night out ten-pin bowling, a veggie burger and fries at TGI Fridays and quite a lot of beer!! 

Back on Birds again which was nice. The stock dove is having physio for her wing as that appears to be a problem. The squeaker is so much bigger and less squeaky!! but we have another smaller squeaker and a baby dove, both ultra cute - the pigeon squab is a very noisy little fella and the dove as quite as a church mouse!!

Jayden, Charlie and Tyson have now gone to the outside aviary and poor Jessie is back in a cabin on his own as he is not using his wing much so he too is having physio. 

There is a crow with a bound foot and his notes say that the crow was found "in a fox's mouth!" so a lucky escape for him.

In the isolation ward, Pebbles the PMV pigeon is getting better by the minute with very only very faint signs of PMV - the squeaker with the severe PMV is oh so much better and bigger - he is still twisting his head, but is nowhere as bad as he was so hopefully he should recover.

The blackbird's cage was empty and I though the worse as she was getting so stressed being cooped up but no - good news, she is outside in a large aviary on her own, and I observed her eating and drinking so I think she is benefiting from that. She won't be handled now she is outside unless the staff think she needs a closer look, just observed and I think she will be a whole lot better and less stressed of which stress only exercabates the PMV symptoms.

A white pigeon was brought in by a lady who had been keeping it in her shed. I was having my coffee break with the others, when Kim one of the staff asked me to assist her with the bird as James and Ted were out on a release, so that was nice - I felt very honoured to be assisting in the treatment room but they all know I have a soft spot for pigeons!! This poor bird has a bad eye injury and a lot of feather damage around her head and neck so it is assumed she was being attacked by other birds. I am sure she will be fine!

Apart from that all pretty quiet - still no baby birds apart from pigeons/doves. We await the ducklings, goslings, and baby songirds any day now!!

One of the volunteers Margaret who incidentally was 68 today, had seen a pigeon huddled in a doorway on her way into the Centre today. Unfortunately she was on the bus at the time. Well as she was telling us this, the new lad Gavin, was quite concerned and offered to drive Margaret back to where she had seen the pigeon. So they both went out but unfortunately the bird had died Its not for me to post this sad story, but to advise that this young lad certainly has the makings of a friend of the pigeons....... And they could do with it in this day and age!

Tania x ( tired but had a really nice day cuddling and stroking pigeons)


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Tania, wonderful update again. It was sad to read about the pigeon dying (that the lady on the bus saw) but like you said, Gavin has the "makings" of being a fine pigeon friend.


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## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

Once again, your update touched my heart, Tania. Thank you.

I feel like I'm THERE! Unfortunately, there will be other deaths but I know that so many will be helped and survive.

LOVE, HUGS and HEALING THOUGHTS TO ALL!


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## TerriB (Nov 16, 2003)

Thanks for the update, Tania! What an interesting mix of animals. How encouraging that Gavin was so quick to respond to the mention of a bird in need!


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Oh yes Gavin is a pigeon rescuer in the making. 

He's a lad of about 25 - good looking..... a van driver but when he picks up a pigeon and starts making baby talk with it you know he is hooked. 

He got upset Saturday when one of the female mallards in the pond seemed to get attacked by a lot of male ducks and at one time was submerged in the pond for about 30 seconds - I went in there wondering just how deep the pond was to rescue this poor girl when she finally appeared and managed to get onto the bank - Gavin was pretty uspet - I pointed it out to one of the staff who said they would keep an eye on her - it could be that that they have to remove her for the time being because "its that time of year!!" 

But no - he is great - a lovely, sensitive type of guy - oh if I was only 20 years younger...... sigh.

Tania xx


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

*Good and bad News at London Wildcare*

Ok - lets start with the bad news  - the bad news is that the Centre is very low on money ( again) and they have to make 2 of the 6 staff redundant, one of which is Karen, who is a lovely Scottish lady with a fondness for pigeons. She was in tears yesterday telling me about it - her last day is next Saturday so I can imagine it will be pretty emotional.... I am doing another sponsored slim !! to try and raise money and there are others doing sponsored things and car boot sales so we are hoping that it won't have to close ( everyone's worst nightmare). 

But it was business as usual and I was on the bird ward again. This time we had Horatio!! who is a swan goose - they look like this http://www.fotosearch.com/AGE055/l81-454058/

Apparently he is 34 years old - some woman claims she has been feeding him for 34 years - he is not native to the UK, but I believe China - he hangs out at the same pond and was brought in because he appeared to be unwell. Well we let him out for a good two hours whilst he walked around the ward, he looked at the other birds, had a little nap and a little poop in the corner and then wandered slowly back to his CLEAN pen with lots of yummy food for him!!. They can't find anything wrong with him and the general concensus is that if he is 34 then he just a very old boy and probably just feeling his age!! 

The stock dove has gone out into the aviary as has Jessie - they both needed physio on their wings but are Ok now. The squeaker is still squeaky and his neighbour the baby dove "oh so quiet in comparison" but both putting on weight. The white pigeon which had been attacked by crows and I found out later school children had been tormenting it!! is looking better too - he squeaks a bit too and has quite a big pink beak so I think just a youngster.

The baby rabbit is called Betty - Betty is very, very cute but she has problems with her co-ordination in that sometimes she falls over and can't right herself and sort of spins around trying to get up on her feet - I am not sure if its the "right thing" to keep her in this way but I think the staff are hoping she'll recover a bit. I'm sort of tempted to offer her a home if she recovers sufficiently not to be "suffering" as I don't think she will ever be allowed to run free.

James had to go out to two rescues and both were pigeons - I thought that people brought pigeons to them and they only recsued big animals ( deer, badgers, foxes)- but no - he goes and picks up pigeons - which is nice - of course my pigeons always come home with me first unless very badly injured or sick... Unfortunaly both these pigeons ( both hit by cars but in seperate incidents) were put too sleep as was a woodpigeon with a broken leg and a broken wing as their injuries were too bad to be mended. I know some people here on PigeonTalk would balk at this and say that a disabled pigeon can have a good life and they can of course - but London Wildcare does not home animals if they can help it and if the animal has no viable future then it is possible it will be put down. The woodpigeon had been kept by a lady with kind intentions for 3 days in her home who thought she was helping when in fact she was hindering as the poor bird had a massive infection in his leg ( her cat had caught him) and his wing was broken too. Karen asked me to feel the wing and the leg to see if I could tell but to be honest I couldn't because I was so scared I was hurting him. 


Pebbles is OK - no more increase in numbers of PMV birds in at the moment - unfortunately the PMV blackbird was put too sleep too - her PMV was not improving and she was going beserk even in the aviary so they thought it kindest as she was suffering...

Two baby robins have come in - the first of the baby bird brigade and also up in the eaves of the building a broken egg was ejected from above - when Karen looked up - there was a proud mummy pigeon on a nest of twigs obviously brooding a squab and another broken egg appeared a little later so we can assume two squabs!!

So we all hope that London Wildcare will keep going - as long as they can keep their head above water it should be OK but at the expense of two people's jobs going which is such a shame...........

I'll keep you posted.

Tania x


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## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

Your report, this time, Tania, sure gave us a lot to think about! I'm really sorry to hear about the Centre! 

*Anything we can do from our side of the pond?* Hopefully, if enough money can be raised, the people could get their jobs back?

I'm sure we all understand that Euthanasia may have to be the way to go. I certainly understand. We want to help so much but sometimes, that is not in the best interest of the bird/animal. My heart goes out to all who have to make this decision!

I never knew a goose could live so long...bless his heart! Wow! 34 years! Horatio is sure is one lucky goose and I so hope that his remaining time will be spent in a safe and loving environment. At the Centre, that's guaranteed!

As always, your update was eagerly read, if mostly sad this time. However, even roses have thorns and one has to take the good with the not-so-good.

Continuing LOVE, HUGS and HEALING THOUGHTS with added POSITIVE SUCCESS in FUND RAISING!


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Tania, this was a wonderful post although with a lot of sadness for the pigeons and blackbird that had to be put to sleep. I enjoyed the story of Horatio. What a grand old man he sounds. Maybe putting him up for a few days will make a difference. I hate the mama pigeon lost both her eggs. Was she sitting them in your building eaves?

I really hope your fund raising will make a difference. It would be so sad that such a wonderful place had to close.

Thank you for all you are doing.


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## Chris Y (Mar 5, 2007)

Very sorry to hear about the redundancies, Tania. I'm a little surprised there are so many paid staff though - our little wildlife centre only has one paid staff member, and a warden (the warden actually owns the place anyway). The rest of the people there are volunteers, including myself.

This may be because we're a smaller centre than the London one? We generally get about 1500 admissions per year.

As well as fundraising events, selling merchandise, etc., our centre gets money from regular donations, and animal/bird adoptions. 

We also have a policy on euthanising animals/birds that cannot eventually be released. There have been exceptions to this in the past, but generally there isn't the space or resources to re-home or house disabled creatures. Sadly, euthanasia was the best option for the blackbird - they are too wild to be kept in cages for long periods. They get extremely stressed.

I wish you the very best of luck in your sponsored events, and really hope that you make enough money to keep the centre alive, but now might be a good time to put out the word that volunteers are needed, so they can be trained up and settled in.


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

Hi Tania,

Another very interesting account. I had never heard of a swan goose before but I can see where he got his name from. I gather that the broken eggs were empty egg shells?

I am sad about the euthanasia though. I just wish that I had the space and the finances to take in all unreleasable pigeons and give them a home in a giant aviary.

Shame about Karen, that was the ideal job for her.

Cynthia


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Hi,

Well I have £ 170 in sponsors already and that's just from friends - I have e-mailed about 120 people I know in the bank today and I hope tomorrow those pledges for money will pop in the "inbox" all day. 

Maggie - the pigeon shells were empty - mama pigeon has squabs safely brooding under her - everyone knows she is there - she be looked after...

Horatio will probably go back to his pond soon as he only been to London Wildcare once before about 7 years ago. As I say they can't find anything wrong with him and its therefore assumed thats it just old age - but he looked fine wandering around the ward - we gave him some bread which he threw about and he was looking in all the cages - especially at the squeaker ( who never stops squeaking!!) I expect he will feel better when he back home. The lady who has been feeding him for 34 years phones twice a day to check on him.... bless. 

Chris - well perhaps you have hit the nail on the head perhpas staff overheads are too high. I think London Wildcare take in about 4000 patients a year ( boosted by the baby boom about to happen) - most volunteers don't do any force feeding or that but a couple do - I am willing to learn a little more of the medical side so I will have to push myself forward. They also have someone on site all the time - for instance Karen is there tonight on her own doing the night shift. They have a bed there so she can cat knap but if the door bell rings then she has to get up and see to whatever casualties may have happened in the night.... 

Karen was amazing she could hold a feisty pidge in one hand and a syringe with food or medicine in the other and easily administer food or drugs on her own. Whilst some pidgies or doves you can hold with one hand, others are not so compliant.

Cynthia, it would be lovely if there was someone down Surrey way that took pigeons who couldn't be released - I got to hold a woodpigeon the other day, not the one that was put too sleep, another one - his was so soft and lovely - so beautiful. Karen knows Diane ( Mad bird lady) whom I know you do too.

Anyway fingers crossed the Centre can work this out. They have been there before and have overcome their difficulties.

Tania xx


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Tania, whew, so glad the mama pigeon didn't lose her eggs. I know it will be fun watching them grow.


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Karen and James left today so that was quite sad. As you probably know I was very fond of Karen and will miss her dreadfully, but I have her e-mail address and she wants updates from the Centre too so another customer to satisfy!!

Ok - back to the animals. Horatio the Chinese Swan Goose is going to stay wih us. Because of his age it has been decided its too risky to take him back to his pond in case he falls ill again. He goes onto the Centre's pond in the day but at night they bring him into the bird ward and put him in a pen. Poor Horatio has found out that he is not top goose on the pond and has been "put in his place" by some of the others. In the day he can be kept an eye on but at night they want to bring him in as he is such an old boy and needs his creature comforts.

I was on birds again and we had an Aylesbury duck who wandered around the ward. He had been found sitting in mud at a nearby pond looking miserable and turns out he has bumblefoot so feeling a bit sorry for himself. 

A lot of the pidgies have gone outside. The squeaker was moved into a bigger cage today with another squeaker so that they can spread their wings - the little one weighs about 120g but he can almost fly. He still has big baldy bits where his feathers haven't grown in yet. Bless - he and the other squeaker after an initial little tussle snuggled down together so that was nice to see.

Betty the rabbit has gone to live with another volunteer ( she will decide whether Betty's long term prognosis is OK - i..e that she stops fitting and falling over)

There were two new pigeons in the ward today - very sad cases actually - a juvenile who had been hit by a bus and then a car and then luckily scooped up, has a broken leg, but they have set it and he is eating happily and another poor thing that was absolutely petrified and spent the whole shift rammed right back against the cage - He had been rescued by someone who had seen children hitting him with sticks! There is also a crow in the isolation ward who was being kicked by chldren and this poor thing can't even stand up! When I was a child and you found an injured bird, you took it home to your parents and you'd put in a box ( no wildlife rescues in those days) and see how it fared - you certainly didn't treat it cruelly!! It makes my blood boil to think there are children like that....... 

There was another pigeon who had been grounded - he doesn't appear to have much wrong except he can't fly - they think his wings are sore ( but no breaks) and he had a bit of a flying lesson with Kim, but just crash landed so back in the cage for some more cage rest!!

Ted brought in a male mallard whilst I was there, he had been seen dragging his leg. Ted thinks the break happened a while ago as it seems to have set over so he will be monitored and then probably put onto the pond to stay at LW - there is another duck with deformed legs so he'll be OK ( and she's female) 

Pebbles is still in isolation, but by jimminy she is feeling better - when I went to weigh her, she gave me a peck and growled and grunted at me so I think she is a bit fed up now but until she stops twisting her neck she can't be released - but she is better than she was. I was also warned about "Psycho" - Laura this young girl, had already let him escape earlier that day and had recaptured him. When I went to weight him she said "Be careful he's quick" - well no pigeon would defeat me I thought but when I reached in for his majestey, he nearly slipped through my fingers. He is one strong, wriggly bird - another PMV patient who has been there a while and I guess feeling better and wanting to be free. I do feel sorry for them in their cabins, but it has to be better than starving ( which is what would have happened) and these look as though they will get better and will one day be released.

I had to clean a cage out with 4 collard doves and I was worried that when I would try and catch them there would be one escapee - well miracles of miracles I was able to pluck all these little darlings with no trouble at all. They are admittedy juveniles but they are not babies and are getting their collars!

Only one other baby bird received which was a dunnock a very little non-descript little brown bird - but a little baby who is on 20 minute feeds!!

Things carry on at LW as per normal ( thank goodness) and I think the saving in wages has helped a bit.

Sorry the post is long but there is always so much to say. ( and I still love it there!!)

Tania x


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Tania, your day was filled to the brim. What a wonderful, unselfish thing you are doing to donate your time to help all these little critters.

I'm glad Ted decided to keep Horatio. He deserves to end his days being looked after.

It is a miracle that pigeon who was hit by a bus and car survived at all. I do hope he makes a full recovery. And that other pigeon was lucky someone got to him before the juvenile delinquents could hurt him more. No wonder he was so frightened of people at the center. I just don't understand how people can be so cruel to something so defenseless.

I'll bet you miss Betty. Hope she'll do well.

Glad to hear Pebbles is doing better too.

Thank you for sharing your day with us. I really look forward to your updates.


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Wow, Tania .. what a busy day! Thank you for this latest update!

Terry


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Another long post, but yesterday was quite busy with lots going on. 

On birds again, this time with Gavin, who is our new "young man" who has a fondness for pigeons - he is 29-year-old van driver but when you hear him talking to the birds he is just a big softy.

We had 3 escapologists yesterday - it is my worst nightmare to have a bird free flying around the ward - the door should be shut (though some people leave it open) and the windows too. First escapologist was Houdini (I call him that because he had a fly around 3 times!!) Houdini is a magpie with a bad eye. We managed to get him back! Then when he was having his cage cleaned, off he went again slipping through Gavin's fingers and then finally when Kimberly the nurse came to see to his eye - he escaped again!! She held him whilst I put ointment and drops on his eye - BTW I never knew what a sharp beak magpies have until their beak is clamped down on your finger!!

Horatio, the swan goose was in his cage so I let him out, but he wasn't happy and I know they put him out on the pond in the day. I wasn't sure how we did this - i.e. did we usher him him out  - he is quite a big boy. Kim, staff member told me to pick him up under tuck him under my arm and carry him out. He doesn't weigh much she says. Not sure if I believed her but I did just that - he was in fact as light as a feather and no problem to carry either only getting a bit wriggly when we neared the water!!

My other escapees was a collared dove from the cage that has 4 doves in it - she however decided to fly on the bars of another cage and was easily captured as was a juvenile pigeon who could fly but not very well and was scooped up easily from the corner of the ward!

We have an injured badger in at the moment (injuries to his rear - could be territorial fight wounds) and some poorly foxes - one fox has a very severe inner ear infection and keeps falling over - its quite dramatic - if he can't be cured I am afraid he will be put too sleep as he is in distress but he receiving medication at the moment so fingers crossed.

I also helped Kimberley feed some baby squirrels (Kimberley used to work there and has gone to University) but she is back on her holiday and is spending the whole two weeks at the hospital including some night duties too - so that is dedication for you!!). The baby squirrels are gorgeous and have baby milk formula Esiplan. I also helped rehydrate another baby squirrel that had been found in the middle of the road. Luckily for her she was spotted in the nick of time.

The crow that was being kicked is slightly better although still not able to stand up straight and the pigeon that was beaten with sticks, has a small fracture in her wing, but Ted is confident she will fly again. He is amazed he says by pigeons adaptability to injury and how they cope. (On my way to the hospital I was amazed to see pigeon at the station with one toe on one foot and one toe on the other - walking quite easily if not a little flat footed - but coping just fine!!)

The mallard with the broken leg is still inside but feeling better although he will always drag his leg. I believe he will be out on the pond soon.

We have our first lot of ducklings - not sure about the story with Mum - but she isn't with them, so I guess not good for her. But the babies will be fine. The place is starting to fill up now and the bird ward was very busy yesterday with all pens full. The squeaker is still tiny but full of beans and can helicopter fly onto your finger - he is very, very tame and loves to be handled.

The baby pigeons under the eaves of the building are thriving well. The mother pigeon is very distinct looking and is never far away.

Pebbles is still in the isolation ward as are her other PMV counterparts. PMV seems to take a long time to get out of the system. They all look well with only minimal signs of head tilting so hopefully they will be going out to the aviary soon.

We have 3 baby mice too. People had a mouse in the garage - put down a trap (not humane I am afraid) and killed the mother. They then discovered the babies, had a change of heart and decided to bring them into us. They are very, very tiny and very cute too......

Since they (wildlife hospital) had to let two people go due to money problems, they are a bit short of staff - well I am not going to be staff but I will be commencing a 24-hour shift from 20 April 2007 onwards. I will be starting at 7.00pm on a Friday and not finishing until Saturday 7.00pm - but I will be doing more "clinical" stuff such as pill popping, giving injections, hydrating new admissions and doing lots of baby feeds. So please spare a thought for me on a Friday night, bottle feeding fox cubs every two hours. The night shift involves me being there on my own (but the hospital is very secure with gates etc) and basically answering the phone if it rings, letting Ted or Kim know if there are road traffic accidents to attend to in the night and making sure that I have the treatment room ready when they arrive with the injured, fox, deer. badger, swan and as I say bottle feeding very tiny cubs... I am sure it will be hard work, heat breaking work and exhausting, but I am really, really looking forward to it.

So that's another update for you.

Hope it wasn't too boring...

Tania x

PS - some of the kids on my shift have done a "MySpace" page about the hospital and if anyone is interested they can see some of the animals on there!

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=171862385


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## TerriB (Nov 16, 2003)

Thanks for the update! What a diverse group of animals you get to treat - tiny mice to swan geese. So cool!!! We'll keep you in mind during your 24 hour shift!


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Yesterday I had a change - I was asked to go to London Wildcare's Field Centre in Ealing, London to give the manageress Jan a hand and also to partake in Ted's training course later on with a couple of other volunteers.

The Field Centre is located in a big park and was originally a children's petting zoo (rabbits, guinea pigs, goats etc), that closed down and the Council told London Wildcare that they could have the site free. It already had a pond and pens and aviaries, so basically they moved some of their unreleasable animals there. 

They have Biscuit and Sheridan, two tame foxes who did not make an appearance as are currently tending to 4 cubs (this was a mistake but nature took over), pheasants Sid and Cherry (parents last year), 3 pigeons Gloria and Albert (white pigeons) who are inseparable and keep making nests together and a lone male William , so they are on the look out for a female for him. There is a tumbler at Beddington Park hospital, so if that is a "she" then William will get a girlfriend soon. Also in the aviary are 3 quails, 2 unreleasable blackbirds and a mistle thrush. The last 3 were hand reared by good meaning finders and unfortunately have become too tame.

Then there is Merlin the tawny owl, another imprinted animal (I think he needs a girlfriend too), Martin and Icicle (grey squirrel and albino squirrel) and finally the gang on the pond, Grace and Patch, the greylag geese, Amy, Molly, and Pavlova the Aylesbury girls, Gertie the Indian Runner duck, Big Al the shelduck, Mary the call duck and finally Jenny the crossbreed (mallard/Aylesbury - she looks like a very big mallard!!). I cleaned the pond area up whilst chatting to the public and managed to find Jan a volunteer for Sundays - a really, lovely young man......... (He will share Sundays with his girlfriend as they have a little boy - but they both love wildlife).

Later we fed the gang of ferals that "hang" around. Jan makes them a mix of corn, birdseed, crushed digestive biscuits, bread and a few raisins!! It all gets eagerly eaten. She feeds them out the back, as some people were a bit cross she was feeding ferals!! Saying that a French couple came past with a bag of cake and said would we like the cake as they had been feeding the pigeons with it, but they were now all full up!!. I must say all the ferals looked very well - no a straggly one amongst them. 

Then we had the training. Ted brought two new patients with him too, 2 2-week old chicks that had been found running in the road, near to a school so assumed that it was one of these Easter things that schools do and being obviously useless had managed to let these two escape. They are safe now and will stay at the Centre for the rest of their lives. 

So Ted demonstrated various things with Martin (a hedgehog from the hospital) being used as a guinea pig, the very lonely William was caught and brought in to show how gaveging is done (poor William!!), the chicks had bits of their anatomy pointed at and a baby squirrel which Ted produced from his shirt pocket was fed with milk substitute (Esbilac).

We also had a brief overview of drugs used and how hydration is the key step to be taken to any animal when found. Rehydrate first, tend to the injuries or illness secondly.

I had a lovely day, met some lovely people and now gearing myself up for my night duty this Friday!! Here's hoping there are no emergency calls.

I'll let you know how I get on and of course I want to see if Pebbles has gone out to the aviary yet. I missed my little pals yesterday but made some great new friends!!

Tania xx


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Hi Tania,

Sounds like another great adventure, and learning experience.

Thank you for sharing your day with us.


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

*Night Shifts*

I have now done two night shifts at London Wildcare. Quite scary as you are there on your own and you can hear strange noises all night  - foxes banging about in their pens, pigeons flying around ( Romeo and Juliet managed to spend a night inside last Friday), cats mooching - don't worry I had the cats in a different part of the building to the pigeons, fox cubs barking.... ducklings cheeping and the phone ringing!! 

To be fair the phone didn't ring much, but I had one man at 1.00am from London Underground advising there was a fox cub on the line and he would try and catch it and bring it to us and the other was a call at 5.50am - a lady was outside the Centre's gates with a mouse in her welly boot!! Her cat had caught it, she had put it into the wellington and then couldn't get it out. Wearing pyjamas, no make up and very tousled hair look, I took the wellington off her and padded back to the treatment room with the mouse.

Luckily it never bit me and was very wriggly and when Ted got up later and checked it over, he decided it was Ok and the lady could come back for her wellington and her mouse ( She wanted both back).

We are full to bursting with baby things, birds,ducklings,squirrels and fox cubs. Horatio the Snow Goose is back indoors at the moment as he wasn't happy on the pond - I think there was a bit of bullying and he also is very doddery but he gets a walk around the ward every day and he likes Monkey Nuts in the shells - he cracks them open and then eats the nuts!!

Things have got quite interesting for me - I'm a dab hand at feeding baby squirrels, I've assisted on some of the medical things, gavaged my first pigeon without killing it ( it was a young woodpigeon) and held a moorhen down whilst it had a drip inserted - poor thing was knocked over by a car and has a possible brain injury - but we give the animals the benefit of the doubt. We also have a pipistrelle bat in at the minute which is tiny and is fed mealworms by tweezers at regular intervals - scary looking little things but very, very delicate.

One of the sad things I have to do, apart from witnessing euthanasia which does need to happen in some cases, is when I get up in the morning, to walk around the wards and check that everyone is OK. My first night shift was fine with just one poor crow dying ( he looked absolutely fine the night before) but my second shift I counted five dead animals ( all birds), a catted robin, a baby great tit, a collared dove with severe canker, a teeny duckling who was the runt of his group and a scalped feral pigeon which Ted thought would be OK, but poor thing passed away in the night. It's very sad but I guess they don't all make it.

We have a fox in who got his paw caught up in wire - the paw has now died and poor Dexter is off to the vets to have it amputated - its a back leg so depending on how he gets on he may be released at a "safe site"* or he will stay with the 11 residents foxes.

I could say a million things more but I'm off there again tomorrow so will update when I have done that shift. I really miss it when I'm not there, but I have Jude the pigeon to look after ( Michelle's pigeon from London) who I will take up there tomorrow so I have had my fix on wildlife caring anyway.

Tania xx

* safe sites are special release sites where people, fox lovers, will keep an eye on the foxes health and ensure they are fed as well. All the foxes that come through the centre are microchipped too in case they ever turn up again - then you know who you are looking at and whether they are destined to end up in scrapes!


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

I absolutely love reading your updates!! Most of the time when there is a LONG post and I figure I don't really have anything to add or say, I sometimes skip it, but I ALWAYS read your posts. What a wonderful job you have. Anyway, just wanted to say keep up the good work.


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## John_D (Jan 24, 2002)

Thanks for another update, Tania. Like Lovebirds, I don't always read long posts in detail (especially after a long day and the brain is weary) but I never miss your wildcare 'diary' 

Not just things that go 'bump' in the night, but a whole range of squeaks, tweets and barks! Wonderful job you are doing.

John


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## Feather (Dec 8, 2005)

Hi Tania,

I as well love to read your adventures. Thank you so much.

Feather


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Tania, count me in on the joy of reading your updates. I read every single word.

I am so sorry you're having to face the hard life of rehabbing with the deaths. Each and every little soul that dies breaks my heart.


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## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

I, too, love your updates, Tania! You have QUITE a fan club here!!

I DO hope you are somehow keeping copies of these entries....I SEE a BOOK in your future!!

With LOVE, HUGS, and SCRTICHES TO ALL...and, of course, that wonderful Ted...


Shi & Mr. Squeaks


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Thanks for the update, Tania! I so understand the trepidation of checking in the morning to see who made the night and who didn't.

Terry


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## arnieismybaby (Jul 24, 2006)

Hi Tania!

This is my first reading of your ever increasing skills, and the abundance of wildlife you assist in looking after - they all sound like major characters - it truly makes amazing reading. Again I can only commend you for sharing your time and dedication to looking after these animals. I know I couldn't do it. Many years my mother was a volunteer for the RSPCA, back in the days when they took an interest in injured wildlife too, and it broke my heart seeing the cruelty that so called animal lovers inflict on animals, I spent half my younger years constantly crying.

Good luck with your next stint at the night shift - I hope Jude behaves himself and finds some new friends amongst the pijs already in the care of the Wildlife Centre.

Have a great weekend.

Michelle x


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Hi Michelle,

Thanks for the feedback..... 

I have received an e-mail from Ted this morning welcoming Jude into the pigeon quarters at London Wildcare. Not sure how he is going to respond to a worming pill ( every new pidgie gets a worming pill unless at death's door which Jude certainly isn't.........) but he has no choice!! 

Just been picking dandelion leaves in my garden ( sounds like a weed infested area - eh??) for the baby rabbit we currently have in situ at LW......

I'm packed and ready for the night shift, just have to gather my little friend into his carry box for the train journey!! 

Tania xx


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## TerriB (Nov 16, 2003)

kittypaws said:


> ...All the foxes that come through the centre are microchipped too in case they ever turn up again - then you know who you are looking at and whether they are destined to end up in scrapes!


Thanks for sharing your experiences. Love the mouse in the Wellie. 

What a great idea to 'chip the foxes!


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

*Lots learn't*

Night shift - I was left to fend for myself at 8.00pm with just Ted to call on his mobile with any problems:-

1. 9.05pm - Chris - rescuer brings in lone female Fox cub - Phoned Ted - put her in a large wire carrier - food and water, cover with towel...
2. 9.15pm - Lady phones from domestic animal rescue - has a grounded woodpigeon - doesn't want to take to RSPCA as they will put it too sleep - she'll bring it over but it looks in bad way. Woodpigeon arrives - big boy - very strong, wings look OK, grass stains on his chest and wing ( dragging himself maybe?), Ted phoned, advises- rehydrate him by gavaging, give him quarter tab of Synolux, put him in cat carrier over night on heated treatment table.
3. 10.30 pm - Girl rings, has found a pigeon - can she bring it over yep bring it over - door bell rings - 3 youths with various piercings on their faces, have a box with a very poorly feral inside - found him at a bus stop - extremely thin, large wound to his chest and wing, scabs over both eyes!! Young folks leave, leaving a donation - bless - and I phone Ted again. Again I gavage - give synolux, saline wash wound and apply fuciderm cream and put him in a heat cage!! 11.30 well deserved cup of tea then off to bed....

Up at 5.45pm - do a thorough check of the hospital - 4 deaths to report - fox cub (not the new one), a baby robin, a bat and a squirrel. Cats fed, cup of tea drunk and then start making GLOP for baby birds - Glop is firm dog food, digestive biscuits, EMP (duckling food) , Pancrex and Avivor powder and water - very little black birds fed, older baby black birds fed, one taken from the back as looking not too good.

Glad to say that my 3 patients have all survived the night and all looking pretty alert!!

Ted arrives with a couple who have a catted blackbird ( very sick looking), surveys the dead creatures and then decided that the baby blackbird and the adult should be PTS as not too good.

I was back in the nursery Saturday, with squirrel feeds and then shown how to inject 3 fox cubs in the scruff with medication, and worm 5 others

Had a great day - admitted quite a few pigeons in trouble ( a lot of wodpigeons getting into scrapes), Gavin one of the volunteers went to collect a feral huddled outside a shop, with a dreadful wound on its back ( crow attack possible as quite young), tiny fox cub admitted severely hydrated - taken home by an ex-member of staff as will need intensive care and then just as I was about to leave after finishing the 6.00pm squirrel feeds - another member of the public with yet another catted woodpigeon, so train missed and next one caught. 

The work is very exhausting as you are on your feet constantly crossing from one ward to another ( baby birds need feeding at least every half an hour, ducklings have to be constnatly topped up with water to dabble and drink) and grabbing a bite to eat or drink or being able to go on time is not always a possibility!! but I wouldn't change it for the world.

Next week one of the girls is going to have a big "kick out" as she calls it - This is when the outside aviary birds - ferals, woodies, collard doves and corvids are freed...... i.e. all better and ready to go back into the wide world. Of course the ferals don't leave - they stay becase they get two feeds a day at the Centre.

Roll on next Friday I say - I get absolutely scared of the phone ringing, of what is going to come through the door, but I love it so much...... 

Tania ( in absolute wildlife bliss mode ) - got to put the banking hat on tomorrow for my "other" job......


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## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

I'm going to be running out of superlatives, Tania!

Your adventures remind me soooo much of the books by James Herriot, which were absolutely a delight to read!

I know I have mentioned this before about a book in your future. Do you think that someday you may do one? If so, sign me up for a copy!!! AND, I KNOW, there will be many others here who will also want one. What more could a publisher ask for...SALES!!!

AND, perhabs some proceeds could also go toward the LW...

Meanwhile, as always....LOVE, HUGS and SCRITCHES TO ALL

Shi & Mr. Squeaks


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Another great update, Tania. It's wonderful that you are able to be such a help at the wildlife center.

Terry


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## arnieismybaby (Jul 24, 2006)

Hi Tania!

Wow - you sure sound as if you were kept extremely busy - certainly not a sit back and relax kind of voluntary job then.  

What was the diagnosis on Jude? Did Ted have any idea how Jude came to loose his flight feathers? Anyway I hope Jude has now settled down into his new "temp" home and has lost the "attitude".

Michelle xxx


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Hi Michelle

Did update on your other link re Jude but basically not sure how he lost them as he doesn't appear to have any other injuries which might have indicated a cat or a hawk attack. Also the feathers don't look like they have been cut so a real mystery...........  yes he was as nice as pie at the Centre - on the way there though he decided to go "mad" in the carrier - luckily I had got off the crowded train by then and was just walking across the park with this box making the most terrible scuffling noises!! He got his punishment by being gavaged and having a worming pill which I administered!! when we got there.

I'll keep you updated on him.

Tania xx


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## Chris Y (Mar 5, 2007)

Sounds like one of my days, Tania, although possibly a lot more busy! 

Interestingly we have a load of baby blackbirds in at the moment. With ours being a more 'rural' setting than London, we tend to get a lot of birds in whose hedges have been trimmed or cut down - a lot of them are blackbirds.

Those who have looked in on my thread in the "Stories and Picture Sharing" area will have seen the 2 blackbirds and a robin I had previously - well now I have 5 blackbirds to look after! 

Sadly, the 'medium blackbird' from the last lot had to be put to sleep - essentially he had nerve damage in his legs, which meant he could move only the top half of one, and the bottom half of the other. He would never be able to walk, and he was getting worse by the end and was beginning to suffer. Was very hard to let him go, as we'd tried lots of things on him, and really became attached to him.

The current batch comprise of 'frog', who got into trouble as a nestling by being too mobile, and jumped out of his nest. Now he jumps around even when he's being fed . Then there's the two 'scaredy cats' - one will not take any food off humans, and tried to hide. The other one appears scared, tries to 'steal' the food off you, then jumps on you (bit odd in the brain methinks). There's "Huck", who makes a 'huck' noise occasionally because he has gapeworm, and then there's the other one, who sits quietly in a plant pot all day and is very sweet and is no problem at all 

Huck has been given some Panacur to treat the gapeworm. I had some reservations about that after hearing some of the stories here on PT, but I have been advised that songbirds don't have the same reaction to Fenbendazole as columbiformes do, and the doses are low, so I think it's ok. For interest, they're given 0.2ml per kg once (to kill off the worms) and then a second dosage a couple of days later to kill any remaining worms.

Whoops! Sorry for derailing your thread, Tania. Just had to brain-dump a little


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## arnieismybaby (Jul 24, 2006)

Hi Tania!

Ooops missed that thread.

I'm just happy that, despite the mystery of the missing feathers, Jude is otherwise in good health.  I bet he is just happy to be relatively "free" now and not in the cat basket anymore  

Thanks again for all your help.

Michelle xx


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Chris Y said:


> Whoops! Sorry for derailing your thread, Tania. Just had to brain-dump a little


Chris you are more than welcome to "brain dump" on my thread - after all we are both at UK Wildlife Centres!! 

One thing I found quite disgusting especially little blackbirds is the amount of poo they do!! They stop eating someimes and its because they want to poop and its quite yucky - makes pigeon poo look OK!! 

Interesting about the gapeworm - one of our blackbirds kinda of clicks so I wonder if he has worms - I'll have to look into it.

Michelle- always welcome...... 

Tania x


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

mr squeaks said:


> I know I have mentioned this before about a book in your future. Do you think that someday you may do one? If so, sign me up for a copy!!! AND, I KNOW, there will be many others here who will also want one. What more could a publisher ask for...SALES!!!
> 
> AND, perhabs some proceeds could also go toward the LW...


Shi - a book? Don't know about that - I bet Ted could write a book though!!  I'll bear it in mind!!

Tania x


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Tania, I can tell by every update how much you are learning and I am so very happy you love it as much as you do. I know from experience how tired you can get but you do have a few days to rest up and get rejuvenated for the next time. 

Your #2 in the list just goes to show you can't judge a book by its cover. Those young people may have had the earrings, etc. but their hearts are pure gold. I remember (one does this often in old age  ) many years ago we were coming back from a trip to the beach and pulled off the highway for some reason - not realizing there was a deep hole immediately in front of the truck and the truck was leaning forward. Many cars passed and then a van, painted in psychedelic colors stopped and about 5 young men, dressed like hippies got out and asked if we needed help. The all got at the front of the truck and pushed it back to level ground, would accept no money and drove off. People can be really nice.

I am so sorry about your losses. I know this is the hardest part of your work.


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## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

ooooo, Maggie! There you go again about the "old" thing!! For shame! "Old" is just a word...and I am certainly _never_ gonna use that word in reference to me!  

Well, Tania, maybe you and Ted could collaborate on a book - maybe get Chris Y involved?? SOMEONE needs to write a book over there! Too many great stories! People loved James Herriot and his stories and I see no reason why they wouldn't love yours! And just think how the Centers would benefit...DO keep thinking about this!!

I KNOW that I'm not the only one on the site who would be willing to buy your book!

  

LOVE and HUGS as always

Shi


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Another night and day shift done, plus went in for few hours today ( bank holiday). 

The night shift was quite exciting as Ted and Jackie brought in a roe deer that had been stuck in a garden all day. It had superficial injuries and was sedated whilst Ted and Jackie examined it and put it on a drip to hydrate. I held its head and put some cream in its eyes. The plan was to hydrate it, treat its wounds which were just grazes and things from being stuck in the garden and then taken back about 10.30pm for release. Unfortunately the poor thing died  whilst Ted was taking it back - cause of death - stress. Deer do not cope with stress every well.

My night shift was uneventful with only a long tailed tit baby brought in.

Saturday was very, very busy - it was bird day ( 20 birds and 2 squirrels!!) - and not really pigeons just two pigeons and a collarded dove brought in - all the rest were song birds, some adult some babies with quite a few being "catted". 

Sadly a fox that had a broken jaw died. It was sort of OK in the morning when Gaynor and I did did subcuts of fluid under its skin, but when we went back at 2.00pm to do more, it had died. It had such a sad face poor thing........ 

A few birds did die throught out the day, one of those was a pigeon with extensive injuries from being hit by a car - one's that staff did say " we'll be lucky if that makes it" and we had a tiny baby in which we think was a starling, but it had a very distended stomach which I was advised was due to it not being fed for a while and that it starts to ingest itself - of course we did the right thing for him. 

Next week is our Open day so we are all starting at 7.30 to get the place ***** and span for the public - I am on clinical duties with Jackie which will be quite exciting.......

Today Ted and James were called out to a pigeon on a roof with a carrier bag wrapped around its wing - had been there for over an hour. When Ted and James got there, the pigeon got spooked and managed to fly away, leaving the carrier bag behind ( it had been filling up with rain water and he was finally able to dislodge it) Ted swore as they had been called out but was glad the pigeon was free. 

As I was leaving there were 3 members of staff and 2 volunteers in the stream nearby trying to catch one duckling - they had the remaining ducklings and the mother ( who had been swimming towards a weir hence the need to rescue them)- I don't know if they were able to catch it - all I know is that they were at least over an hour trying to do this!!

Loads more to say but not enought time or space - toodle pip for now!

Tania xx


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Thanks for the update, Tania. I'm sorry it was a bit of a rough time at the center this time around. 

Terry


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Thank you Tania. So sorry about the deaths - in particular the deer. I "dearly" love them but they do stress so easily. Hope your open day is a huge success and you get in lots of money.


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

*Open Day*

We just had our Spring Open Day at London Wildcare and I think I can say it was very successful. We were lucky with the weather as it has been raining in the UK for the last week or so, with only one small shower lasting about 10 minutes which did not drive people away. There was a steady stream of people coming through the door and all the stalls did well. The BBQ had a big Q always as did the Pimms tent and when I went to buy a raffle ticket they had sold out!! Not sure how much was raised yet but I am sure it was one of their better events.

Its amazing how many people do come along, all kinds families, pensioners,teenagers, people on their own ( that used to be me!!) and love to talk to you about all the animals and birds. My 3 youths with the piercings turned up to see how their pigeon was which I had initially thought would be PTS - that pigeon is doing well...... and should make a full recovery 

Ted did his usual sort of showcases, twice with fox cubs ( because they are pretty cute!!) and one with a hedgehog - but he is not sentimental with the animals - he tells people how it is, how we at London Wildcare have to be scary to the cubs so that they are frightened of humans and how they ( the public) should bring in hedgehogs to the Centre if they weigh less than 500 grams in the Autumn. Ted is a very charasmatic person and people love to watch his drive and passion for his wildlife Centre.

I was on the stall with the cuddly toys ( all wildlife toys but no pigeons - we need to have pigeon toys I think!!) and the stationary, mugs, fridge magnets, greetings card - very popular and I was pleased to be able to hand over wedges of notes when Ted came by every now and again to collect.

I was also to receive new casualties, which the amazing thing is we didn't get many. The week before we had 22 patients come in during the day - we had 4 during the Open day and another 3 in the evening so it was actually very quiet

I got talking to lots of pigeon lovers too which was nice and before the Open day I helped out cleaning the bird ward and got to have a few cuddles with some pigeons ( including my Red) when giving them a spruce. Trying to tell them not to poop until people had left did not work.... 

In the evening Ted and some of the staff and volunteers had wine, beer and a BBQ - I was there too but refrained from a glass of wine until I had finished doing my last round of baby birds, topping up ducklings and just checking all was Ok for the night. Then I had a glass of wine but the others were about 4 hours in front. I also was in charge of the 24 hour phone so needed to stay sensible whilst drunken chaos around me ensued!!

We had quite a bit of sadness really though that day. A collapsed fox was brought in who had absolutely no fight in her, she died that evening, we had quite a few baby birds that were either far too small to save( just hatched, featherless, eyes not open), a crow with a broken leg who had been rescued again from kids who were kicking it ( I don't think they had broken its leg but they had found it grounded and decided it would be a good idea to give it a kick). This poor thing was put too sleep the next day as its leg was broken at the hip. We had a beautiful feral pigeon found lying in the street - very alert and initially couldn't see why he wouldn't get up - closer inspection showed a large hole in his back with feathers imploded indicating a pellet wound ( our fifth shot pigeon in 2 weeks - we do report these to the police for what good it will do). I don't know what happend with him.

But there are a lot that do pull through of course - its lovely when the baby birds get bigger and bigger and get past that dangerous period.

Anyway as per usual - long, long post - it was a long long weekend too, but still loving it and long may it remain so.

Tania xx


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Tania, as always, I loved your update and I'm very glad the open day went so well. Hope when the final tally is made it will be huge. Sounds like it was a fun day for everyone. 

I'm really sorry about the continuing losses but that has to be expected. We just can't save them all.

Looking forward to next week's report.


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Hi all.

The Open day last week raised £ 15000 which was the best ever sum raised so Ted and his team ( that's me too!) are all really pleased with that. My sponsored slim is nearly over with 1 week to go and I need to lose 1lb which I am sure I will do. I will raise £ 1000 plus £ 500 from my employer so all good for London Wildcare at the moment which is just as well as the patients do not stop coming through the door.

Now I love birds, all birds, but when you are having to do baby bird feeds every 30 minutes that is exhausting ( that's between answeringthe door/phone and cleaning the nursery) but when some of those baby birds are starlings - my goodness can those babies screech  - after a while you get used to it, but when they see you with the food, their screeches get more - you need ear plugs.......... so I will be glad when we stop getting the baby birds in - although we will always get pigeons as they never stop having babies if conditions are right!! 

Nearly every phone call we received yesterday was about a baby bird or a catted bird. I admitted one fox cub ( lovely little thing, unhurt just abandoned) and numerous baby birds - a lot fledging but not really being able to fly properly so concerned people picking them up.

We also got a call about a deer - she was about 1 day old being attacked by foxes - now baby deer should be left alone but no longer than 8 hours max - if the parent hasn't returned then of course expert help should be sought. I do not know where the mother was ( probably close by) but the member of public that found her, had to pull a fox off her so we have reluctantly intervened ( baby deer do not do well in captivity and the mothers milk has all the right nutrients which we cannot replicate only imitate) and taken the baby back to the hospital. Kim, one of the staff will now become Mum for the next 4-6 months I think!! with regular bottle feeding. We have a great release site for her when she is grown up which is very safe for deer so as long as the little one can battle the journey ahead we will all be happy.

I also answered a call about a woodpigeon, which an elderly lady had picked up from the street. She has had for 3 days but he is extremely weak and I am forcefeeding as well as hydrating to try and keep him going. I have posted details about this under my other thread " Red - a String foot pigeon" - he is not great but hanging in there and I shall be taking him up to London Wildcare tomorrow morning.

Another busy, busy day with lots of highs and a couple of lows....( but you are going to get that anyway) and roll on next Friday/Saturday I say......... 

Tania xx


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## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

SUCH WONDERFUL NEWS ABOUT YOUR OPEN DAY, Tania!! I am simply delighted!

Of course, we all know that life is a "balance"... and, life and death. We do our best to keep things in perspective. Some stories, of course, will always touch our hearts more than others. 

I'm just thankful FOR your wonderful facility and the terrific work you all do. Thank goodness, the rewards are ENORMOUS...

Your updates DO read like a novel and I am always looking forward to the next "installment!"

At the risk of repeating myself: ALL THE BEST I CAN SEND along with LOVE, HUGS and SCRITCHES to all!

Shi


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Great news about the funds raised by your open day! Sounds like things were pretty crazy busy at the center as per usual  

Terry


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Another busy night and day - baby birds, baby birds and more baby birds mostly. 

Friday night was very quiet and I was even able to watch a couple of episodes of Ugly Betty before turning in for the night, but my harmonious night was shattered by the telephone shrilling at 4.15am!!  A lady had found a fox at the roadside which was very much alive but unable to get up. I then had the enviable task of calling Ted, waking him up to go and pick this fox up at Lewisham which is probably a good 15 miles away!! RSPCA were too busy!! 

Ted was dispatched and radioed through at 5.30am to say that he had the fox. 10 minutes later he radioed through again, he also picked up an injured woodpigeon at the side of the road too.

The fox was beautiful - no broken bones just really bad concussion hence he couldn't get up. He should be OK. The woodie was not so lucky - dear little thing, when Ted picked him up, he had no carrier, so he had wrapped the little guy up in a towel and popped him in the footwell of the ambulance and when I went to get him out, this little feathered face swathed in a multicoloured beach towel looked out at me. I am afraid to say that despite our best efforts, the woodie died later that day. 

Saturday I was in the nursery as seems to be my home now and it is never ending baby bird feeding as they have to be fed every 30 minutes plus..... I had two baby seaulls (well we think they are seagulls) to gavage every hour. A builder dropped off a nest on Thursday with 3 eggs in it. We don't normally brood eggs but these were cheeping!! Two have since hatched with the other as of Saturday not doing so. However I understand that they were going to keep it for a bit longer as sometimes there is a straggler.

It was very busy and there was a lot of sadness - the baby birds, especially blue tits don't do too well despite our best efforts to raise them and there were quite a few baby bird deaths in the nursery - also we had about 4 birds brought in ( 2 pigeons) that had to be PTS as their injuries were too bad to be treated. What upsets me also is when the people that bring the animals get upset too. A lady brought a thrush in that had its eyes closed and was gasping and it was dying so it was kindest to PTS and the lady knew that was what we had to do, but she started crying and her husband turned away too as he was so upset.

It's something that you never really get used to but that its part and part of being alive that things do die despite our best endeavours.

I finished at 8.00pm - and as it was raining hard and I had Red my pigeon to take home for release, Ted gave me a lift to the station in the animal ambulance!!

Have finished my sponsored slim - have raised £ 1000 for the charity so happy with that too.

Tania xx


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## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

Thanks again for your update, Tania...

I don't think ANY of us EVER get used to birds or animals dying or having to be PTS due to servere injuries.

In fact, I think that people who don't seem to care, have something miswired..

Keep up the great work!!

LOVE HUGS and SCRITCHES

Shi


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Haven't updated in a while as it is all pretty similar what happens - baby birds are continuing to come in although slightly tailing off and the fox cubs being admitted are ones that have been injured or similar. 

We are now getting some baby hedgehogs and we had a batch of very small ducklings in today so they are still hatching.

We also have had an influx of pigeon squabs!!  - In the last 4 days we have had admitted 7 of similar age ( 7-10 days) and had one very small one ( about 2 days old) which was alive as of yesterday but unfortunately died overnight  - Kim said that the really tiny babies are very hard to rear and very often do die - I gave him two of his five feeds yesterday, but he felt cold despite being swaddled in a small fluffy towel and placed in a heat cage. The 7 bigger squabs are all great though - very squeaky and wanting!! One of them has a very sore neck - not sure of the reason for his admittance, but when he came in his crop was massively full and he had trouble holding his head up. Luckily his crop did empty and he seems a lot more livelier and happy now. Five have been placed in one heat cage together, with two displaced squabs that came from the same nest in another cage.

I had the 6.oo o'clock porridge feeds to do last night - I'm still a bit cack-handed with this, but getting there. I had the 8 babies and then about 14 juveniles with 3 adults ( one woodie, a feral and a collarded dove) needing extra feeds as a bit skinny!!

Kim also went out to a rescue of a woodpigeon up a lady's chimney - he had fallen into the fireplace but the lady ( as we get with a lot of people " couldn't pick him up"). he came back very sooty ( as was Kim) and was had his eyes bathed, given a quick blow dry with a cool setting on the hairdryer and then a feather wipe - he still looks dark and will have daily baths to get it all out . Poor thing.

Let loose again with the hypodermics injecting foxes and hedgehogs and pill popping pigeons - one pigeon has to have a capsule type pill which looks might hard to swallow.

Also when I was doing my morning check, I noticed a pigeon beak down in the mud. When I got up to him he flew onto the roof, but had his wings outstretched to support himself and really couldn't stand. I left him for a bit, then came out to find him again, rump in the air and beak down. This time I was able to catch him. He really tipped forward - Ted believes an injury to his tail - advised Kim to give him some anti inflammatory drug and 24 hours to see if he improves. Poor thing remained tilted all of yestetrday, but today he is standing up straight and OK - he had been given some more anti-inflammatory drugs and if that keeps him on an even keel - he will be put in the aviary to check that he really is OK and then back into the flock.......

Of course loads more happens but I thought I would give you all the pigeon news - CanaryJane has brought in 3 pigeons lately with bad feet and they have all now been successfully released.

Till the next time

Tania xx


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## flitsnowzoom (Mar 20, 2007)

kittypaws said:


> Kim also went out to a rescue of a woodpigeon up a lady's chimney - he had fallen into the fireplace but the lady ( as we get with a lot of people " couldn't pick him up"). he came back very sooty ( as was Kim) and was had his eyes bathed, given a quick blow dry with a cool setting on the hairdryer and then a feather wipe - he still looks dark and will have daily baths to get it all out . Poor thing.
> I know it's serious, but the image of a blow-dried pigeon
> 
> Also when I was doing my morning check, I noticed a pigeon beak down in the mud. When I got up to him he flew onto the roof, but had his wings outstretched to support himself and really couldn't stand. I left him for a bit, then came out to find him again, rump in the air and beak down. This time I was able to catch him. He really tipped forward . . . .


 Ummm, whatever do you put in that water over there??  

It sounds like good times and bad over there. Sorry about this little ones. It sounds like you win more than you lose and the work must feel very rewarding. Your updates are always so interesting. Thanks for sharing.


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Tania, I am two posts behind....somehow....so I really enjoyed catching up with your adventures. As always, I'm sad about the deaths but I look at it from the standpoint of how many you save that would otherwise have died. 

Those little songbirds can be overwhelming, can't they? That's why I had to stop rehabbing them and just stick with pigeons. Songbirds really need a lot more attention than pigeons and I always thought the worst part was when they started to fledge. They seem to need more care then than as babies because of having to change cages so much and preparing their food according to their individual needs. They are so sweet though and I still miss caring for them.....every day.

Thank you so much for the update. I enjoy them so much.


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Well I am now "mastering" the art of the porridge feeds!! Kim has decided that to gain experience and expertise on holding a pigeon with one hand and a a syringe in the other, I need to keep doing them and she is right. It's funny though some pigeons that look easier than others turn out to be more difficult. We have two lovely white pigeons which are a joy to feed, the smaller babies that are frantic for food are difficult because they are flapping and squeaking so much and won't keep still!!  I also had to do an adult woodpigeon ( very skinny) and was expecting grief but he was relatively easy!!

The tiny squab unfortunately died - he was very little - only about 2-3 days old. 

We had a BBQ last night and nearby there was a concert with fireworks and in the middle of these fireworks there was this "thump" noise as a pigeon fell out of the tree above the pond. Well it sort of got up and flew up this alleyway towards a light on the building - banged onto the light and back onto the ground. James, one of the staff went running after it - scooped it up and gave it to Kim who was on duty and she gave him a Rimadyl for his headache!! I put him in a heat cage. He looked a bit young, so I expect he was OK to be released today - just a bit of concussion.

Still enjoying it very much

Tania x


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Tania, talk about a pigeon being in the right place at the right time! That was a very lucky little guy with so many rehabbers around. Reminds me of a little fledgling we got in from our vet - she found it sitting right by her car at the practice.

I'm so glad you're still enjoying the work.


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

*Pigeon City!!*

Well all I can say is that we are packed to bursting with mainly fox cubs and pigeons!!  There are so many pigeons in at the moment, ranging from squabs to adults including woodpigeons, ferals and collared doves.

We have 12 squabs of various ages all skin, pin feathers, big beaks and lots of sqeaking,  and I guess probably about 20 juveniles with adults approx about another 40!! All with different issues - too young, sick, injured etc.

Everybody loves the babies and in particular the ones that want to nibble your fingers - they just get so excited, especially when you pick up the syringe to fill with their porridge and rusk!! There is another that squeaks when you do the porridge round, but he is not on feed anymore, but he wants to be - Kimberley says he is just a con artist, is putting on weight perfectly well ( so eating his seed OK) but obviously still wants to be a baby.

I took in another patient in on Friday. Just as I was leaving work on Friday to go to Wildcare, my workmate Sarah called me - she had just found a grounded bat in the bank car park, so I scuttled back and there was a totally exhausted bat lying on the ground. Its a miracle she saw him as they are very small. So I picked him up, called in the newspaper shop and asked them for a small paper bag - put the bat in the bag ensuring that it had air holes and carried him on the train to the Centre. When I got there, he was the 5th bat to be admitted in 2 days - the weather ( it is very wet) is not good for the bats! Anyway this little chap survived over night and yesterday, ate 20 mealworms and drank hungrily rehydration fluid from a syringe - great set of tiny teeth too!! He should be fine and when deemed fit and well and able to fly I can take him back and release him. There are two large royal parks near where I work so I would think he is has come from one of them.

Had 3 hours sleep Friday night. There was quite a lot to do when I got there. Pigeon porridge feeds for 15 vulnerable pigeons at 10pm - baby bird feeds half hourly until 8.30pm, baby bat feeds at 8pm, 10pm and midnight!! and to feed the ducks and geese on he pond before locking them in for the night. Then I could go to bed but..... after sitting down to eat my bagel at 11.15pm, the phone rang about a fox hit by a car, so I phoned Ted, he went out and brought the fox back at 12.15pm just at the same time an elderly couple dropped off a young sparrow ( why they brought him over so late I do not know!! as they had phoned about 5.00pm about him.) Ted and and I then spent the next 40 minutes trying to make the fox comfortable as he had two broken legs, one at the back, one at the front, so woundcare, splinting the legs and trying to place a drip in him. Got to bed about 1.30am - the phone rang at 2.00am, it was a lovely lady but she was phoning about advice for a baby bird ( when do these people sleep I ask myself) and I really wanted to sleep - and then she was chatting for about 15 minutes but she was very nice - managed to get to sleep I guess just after 2.30ish before being rudely awakened by the alarm at 6.00!!

Don't know if you have the Wimbledon tennis on in the States, but if you do you may have seen the mother duck and ducklings on one of the courts. London Wildcare were called out to attend as were the RSPCA and they got there first ensuring good publicity as they manged to catch the ducklings - however the Lawn Tennis Association are going to give us a donation for our time - unfortunately for us the RSPCA were only down the road from Wimbledon, in Putney so we missed out on the publicity. Shame as Ted and Jackie went out and it would have been nice for everyone to see Ted running around with the net - he possibly may have made Jackie do that as a bit slimmer although apparently she isn't as fast as Ted!!

Thing is we have people phoning about ducklings and mother ducks and have been advised by the RSPCA that there isn't a lot they can do because mum will probably fly off which she often does and then they are stuck with the ducklings. If they do catch them, I understand they usually just pop them onto the nearest pond, which isn't always the right thing as you never know what other territorial birds may be on that pond which sometimes can cause death to the ducklings.

Anwyay again this is a long and rambling post but things are going great at London Wildcare. I am still loving it very, very much.

Tania x


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Boy, Tania, after that busy time, I'm glad to see you still love being there. 

I have never seen a bat up close and personal but admire them for their contributions to getting rid of mosquitoes. Do you folks have to get shots periodically because you work with bats and fox because of rabies? I think our state wildlife people require that those rehabbers who work directly with bats, fox and raccoons get some type of vaccine before they can be permitted. I used to have some material on this issue but can't find it!

As always, I really enjoyed your post.


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Hi Maggie,

No- no requirement for rabies shots as "touchwood" we don't have rabies in the UK although saying that I think there was a man that died a little while ago from rabies and he worked with bats!! They think it was a rogue migratory bat perhaps from France or Spain or somewhere. Not known foxes to ever have it.

Bats are a protected secies in the UK and people are not allowed to disturb their roosts or anything even if they are in their loft and have produced two ton of bat droppings. 

The ones we have here are little fellas- not much bigger than 1 inch by 1.5 inches and wing span of 5 inches - cute little fellas!!

No not had any jabs yet - thinking I should really have a tetanus at some stage as bound to get bitten in the future! 

Tania xx


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Tania, do you think you could post a picture of one of the baby bats? I would love to see one. Bet they are really cute.

A tetanus shot is always good, not only for those of us working with birds, but just every day life in general. Lockjaw is a pretty bad disease and easily preventable by a shot. I am not even sure you can get lockjaw from working with birds unless it would be from a needle. Here in the states, I think they recommend getting one every 10 years.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Lady Tarheel said:


> Tania, do you think you could post a picture of one of the baby bats? I would love to see one. Bet they are really cute.
> 
> A tetanus shot is always good, not only for those of us working with birds, but just every day life in general. Lockjaw is a pretty bad disease and easily preventable by a shot. I am not even sure you can get lockjaw from working with birds unless it would be from a needle. Here in the states, I think they recommend getting one every 10 years.


I'm a BIG baby when it comes to needles........a few years ago I was in the doctors office and they asked when I had my las tetanus shot. I don't think or at least remember ever having one. They said I should get one so I said ok. When the nurse came in with the needle I asked "can I change my mind?" and I did. Still haven't had one. That was the biggest needle I've ever seen!!  That's why I can' vaccinate my birds. I'll hold them but just can't stick them.


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

LOL Renee, you really should get one - just look the other way. Your arm gets sore for a few days but is not very bad.


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Hi Maggie,

Sorry my digital camera is next to rubbish, but here is a link for a Pipistrelle bat
http://www.first-nature.com/bats/pipistrellus_pipistrellus.htm

They are very cute - we have to feed them with a very narrow canula with Esbilac ( puppy milk) which they love every 3 hours from 7.00am to 12.00 midnight! 

Thought I would just add as this is a pigeon website, that I now have Pericles and Persephone sitting in my "office" in a cage. Thought I would go all posh and choose Greek names for them! 

These two youngsters were huddled under Hammersmith Bridge today in the rain.Ironically I wasn't actually going that way, but we had run out of milk and with the frequent showers, the Tesco "down the road" was the safest option. Luckily for them my bike takes me by the bridge and I spotted these two looking a bit sorry for themselves.

Pericles can almost fly. He can get off the ground, but not for long hence my easy-ish capture of him! And he is still sporting a few yellow strands. Persephone on the other hand is much smaller, cannot fly, squeaks and is absolutely petrified. 

I hate picking them up knowing that one of them is so close to being independent but the towpath where they were, is patrolled by foxes and rats and I couldn't live with that on my conscience so.... bearing in mind that London Wildcare is a bit short of pigeons at the moment ( yeah right) - I will be taking these two along with me on Wednesday but they'll have their rent money with them. Possibly only Persephone will need to go on the porridge feed rota as she is a little girl.

I am sure that Ted can arrange for them to be booked into the Beddington Pigeon Palace for a week or three!! 

Poor little mites they are so scared and I have their cage covered up with a towel, but at the moment outside it is blowing a gale and pouring with rain so I know I have made the best decision for them in the long run. 

Pigeons - bless them!

Tania x


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Tania, thank you for the link. They are cute little fellows. From the picture in that link the baby was clinging to the bark just like its mother.

You know, a rescuer always seems to find "just one more" to take care of - kinda like pigeon radar. I always feel the same when we get one in that is so close to being able to fly but it only takes a second for a predator to grab one so better be safe than sorry. I know you feel heaps better that they're not in that bad storm outside. I know they'll thrive with your care. Keep us posted.


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

*Pericles and Persephone*

These two little sweeties are now residing at London Wildcare's Pigeon Palace! in Booth No 20............

They both showed their Uncle Ted that they could fly by perching on his finger and then he let them have a little fly around the treatment room... Persephone can fly but not very well and she did a poop on the treatment table - worried that I had scooped them up a little in haste, Jackie reassured me saying that they would have probably been "Fox Fodder" if I hadn't picked them up as they are only just flying, but they are weighing in at a good 264g and 242g respectively and hopefully won't be subjected to the "force feeds!".

Also tomorrow I am going to collect Archie the Bat and release him back from whence he came as he is absolutely fine to go.........

Maggie - we now have another 2 baby bats and a baby mouse....... 

Tania x


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Hi Tania - glad you got the little ones to their temporary palace. No, you didn't make a mistake. Sometimes, we've found that a little adrenalin can make a fledgling fly suddenly and then forget that they know how. AT their weight, they definitely needed to be picked up.

I would dearly love to see the baby bats and mouse. Bet they're cuties.

When I was a very young girl, we had an old couch on our front porch and mice would have their babies in it. Course, I would get them out and play with them - poor little things still naked pink and eyes closed but I just thought they were the cutest ever. I always put them back and don't think I hurt them. However, I had a big brother, about 4 years older, who I caught using them to see if he could hit the center of a dart board  and went running to mother who wore his britches out.  He never did that again. And, he is the same brother that later would rescue every stray cat he came across.


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## PigeonQueen (Aug 13, 2006)

Hi Tania, It's really great news to hear about your furry and feathery friends at Wildcare.We are so lucky to have a rescue centre such as this in the London area.
I enjoy hearing about your work, and the funny, joyful, sad times which are part of your life at the centre.
I have never been any further than the reception desk so it is very interesting to hear your news.
I look forward to going to one of the open days. Other members might also be interested to visit, so please let us know of any events planned for the future.
I think it is diificult for alot of birds and insect eating animals at the moment because of the unbelievable amount of rain we have had.
I was amazed about all the Bats that have been admitted, but then they also rely on insects for survival.
Well Tania, keep up the good work.I am lucky that I can take my sick piggies to Wildcare.
Best wishes. Jayne


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Jayne,

Next Open day is 2 September 2007.

Next members Day is 1 August 2007 so if you join up quick you could come along then. Members days are nicer as there is a lot less people, and more staff etc to ask questions of.........

Yes the weather is to blame for the bats although I am told that I need to release my bat ASAP as although he is doing well in captivity it won't last - he really needs to go - luckily the weather forecast for tomorrow is better - with no rain - hurrah!!

Jayne - Pigeons always welcome at London Wildcare especially ones with monetary notes attached to their legs  - sounds mercenary doesn't it, but we get no government or council funding, only donations from the members of the public ( we love you!!) so its always difficult... today we ran out of dog food after feeding our 80 plus fox cubs and 15 adult foxes and its not a major problem as we can buy food except that Kim will have to dip into the reserves and buy wholesale....but we have a large amount of dog food donated to us from Pedigree which is up in the North of the country so Ted is driving up there next week to collect - if we didn't get such freebies ( and these only happen about once every 2 years when your name gets to the top of the list) we would spend a fortune on dog and cat food with the foxes and hedgehogs that we have in...... 

Yes the mouse is cute too - not a great success rate for mice though and.... I guess if the little mouse is still alive on Friday - Tania will be doing late night feeds again ( oh well - never mind - I didn't want to sleep anyway!!) 

Tania xx


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## PigeonQueen (Aug 13, 2006)

Gosh Tania, Life is a struggle and not just for your sick and injured birds/animals!!!
I did not realise the effort needed to keep Wildcare open.
I think you mentioned Wildcare closed for a short time a while back?
I was wondering, can places like Wildcare apply for lottery funding?
Also are Wildcare still trying to raise money for the fox pen?
It would be a terrible loss if Wildcare closes.
I shall get my membership off tomorrow. 
I rely on Wildcare to take my sick piggies.
I dont know what I'd do otherwise. Alot of Wildlife places 
will not take feral piggies or give the time and care they get at Wildcare.
Tell everyone that they are most appreciated by me! Oh, and say coo-coo to my lot next time you are there!!!!
Jayne


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## arnieismybaby (Jul 24, 2006)

Hi Tania!

I as usual haven't enough spare time in my day to get here as much as I would like. Anyway, just been catching up on your news. Life at London Wildcare certainly appears to be very busy with lots of highs and lows. How are the two pigeons with the fancy names  Hope they are doing well in their new home.

As soon as I have a little spare cash, pretty brassic at the mo, will send another little donation.

My little flock at the Court has been very noticable lately, think I could end up in hot water again  I've got a week off mid July and I have recruited a really sweet, but homeless guy, to feed my guys whist I am gone. So I am going to provide him with a weeks work of seed, and give him a little cash for his time.

Always a pleasure reading your stories about the centre ... hope to find more time to be more of a frequent visitor to these boards.

Take care
Michelle xx


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Michelle, you are so very kind. 

I too now am going on holidays so won't be trawling these forums until my return on the 16th July 2007 - off to the country to stay with my parents which will be great as they live in a little villgae and it is teeming with birds and wildlife.......

Did a few shifts at LWC last week - we have zillions of pigeons in - really .........we have about 100 fox cubs but I think the pigeons are nearly nudging that number too - they are all getting into scrapes lately. 

Persephone and Pericles are doing absolutely fine as is Apollo ( Sandra's woodpigeon)

Another Pigeon.Com member Chrissie brought in a very poorly pigeon on Friday night. Very, very thin and a broken left leg - absoiutely no strength in the little fella at all. Despite surviving the night, he died quietly on Saturday morning on his own with no intervention from us. Ted had him down for an xray that day but he never got to do that for him. 

Poor Jayne ( Canaryjayne) has brought in quite few "string foot pigeons" lately which have all done really well despite having toes amputated but she brought in a poorly pigeon on Friday morning and he died at the hopsital on admittance. As I said to Jayne, some pigeons are so bad when you get them, there is nothing that can be done except make their last few hours as comfortable as you can.

A bit of good news. I released Archie the bat on Saturday night. 

After my shift, I caught the train to Hampton Wick and sat on a bench near where I found him, with him on my arm - well 15 minutes later and he's trembling which I am told is a good sign, he sort of flies off and onto a nearby bush!! So I pick him up and then he flies out of my hands and does a couple of circuits and then there are 3 of them flying around and I know that he is home and will be fine..... made me cry,, but tears of joy as he was back where he should be..... 

Not back at the Centre now until 20 July 2007 so will miss it but I think I need a bit of a break as have been there since February and not missed a Saturday since that time. Sometimes it can be emotionally draining when some of the animals and birds die, especially the ones you are not expecting too - they hit the hardest.

Anyway in the UK, a BBC crew were filming at the Centre for a 4 minute slot to be broadcast on a new daily show on BBC1 at 7.00 called "One" - I understand that the London Wildcare Centre is to feature on the show one day this week but not sure which day as it is on every night so if you have a video I suggest taping every episode if you want to see a bit about the Centre - can't promise they will feature pigeons, but if they filmed outside there is bound to be one in the picture somewhere.

Anyway will be back posting on the 16th so haven't abandoned anyone just cut off from the Internet!

Tania xx


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## michbird (Jul 5, 2007)

It sounds like it is a handful at times, but what an interesting and ultimately rewarding job- Good for you! I enjoyed reading your updates and look forward to the next ones


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Tania, I hope you have a super holiday and a much deserved break. Wouldn't surprise me if you pick up "something" that needs help while you're gone.  

I'm glad Archie is back with his friends. That was such a touching story and I would have cried too. Sounds like bats are like chimney swifts in that when we released swifts, the sky was suddenly full of other swifts that gather the young one up and help them. We saw that with every swift we released.

The number of fox cubs you have at the wildlife center is mind boggling.


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## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

We'll miss your updates, Tania...but, time to "re-charge" batteries as I term a welcome "veg" or "down time!"

Do enjoy your vacation! We will be here when you return.

One thing about becoming "involved," is the emotions that are brought to the surface. Though you can't "see" us through the computer screen, we too, laugh and cry with the successes and the heartbreaks!

GREAT news about Archie! I cheered too!

I still hope to see a book in your future...royalties for the CENTER!  

With LOVE, HUGS and ADMIRATION  

Shi


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Haven't posted for a couple of weeks as been on holiday but now back.

Maggie - yes on holiday at my parents, we found a poorly hedgehog who seemd fine in that he ate and drank and walked around etc, but the next morning he had died  - apparently the biggest killer of hedgehogs is chemicals ( what we put on our gardens!!) cars come second......

Well had a very interesting weekend really at London Wildcare.

Friday night brought in a few patients, 4 of which were baby squirrels, hairless, pink and eyes shut - their mother had built a nest in someone's loft. they never realised and were doing some work and dislodged the nest. One of the babies died as he was very cold when he came in but the other 3 are thriving on milk feeds every two hours ( and they have to be toiletted too!!)

We suddently have a glut of gulls in - herring gulls - 1 adult and about 8 babies ( well juveniles). 4 are in the bird ward and we were allowed to let them out to speread their wings - well - they can fly sort of - well they hover and its the most strangest thing to see 4 seagulls hovering in a room  - I love them - they are lovely birds and the two that hatched from eggs ( err I think they have imprinted because they yell at you all the time)

We still have loads of pigeons in ( about 80) - from babies to adults - the porridge feeds are quite a task as there about 30 pigeons that have a supplement feed at 9.00am and 6.00pm with some of these 30 need extra feeds at 1.00pm, 4.00pm ( the weenie babies) and a 9pm feed ( to give them some nutrition through the night)

I had a bit of an accident this Saturday although I am perfectly well now but it really scared me!! Jackie went out to pick up an injured fox who had been hit by a car - apparently the lady who hit it was cradling the fox in her arms when Jackie got there. It wasn't good, bleeding from the backside and the mouth ( i.e internal bleeding). When she brought it back, Gaynor one of the ex-staff who helps out a bit, was restraining it by the scruff whilst Jackie was examining it. However with all the pulling about, the fox suddenly reared up and Gaynor has arthritis in her wrist and couldn't hold it so I instinctively went to grab its scruff, but ended up with the fox biting me on the wrist - very hard - his whole jaw was clamped tight around my wrist and he wouldn't let go  - it was really surreal and as he then let go he bit my left hand too! I looked down at my right wrist which had suddenly started to jet blood in the air - he had bitten on a blood vessel ( artery or vein) and I really thought I was going to die !! How stupid I feel in hindsight. Jackie and Gaynor were brilliant, I had my arm elevated and a swab to stop the blood flow and then a really tight bandage wrapped around it and it stopped bleeding!! I was very scared though. Ted was on his way back to pick up some hedgehogs to take to a tabletop display we had at a nearby nursery and therefore picked me up in the animal ambulance!! and took me to to St Heliers Accident & Emergency where I was told by the doctor that I still had a pulse and that the fox had only nicked the vein/artery. Apparently if he had got it right and proper the blood would have been hitting the ceiling! So I now have a very sore and bruised ( wrist) with some lovely teeth marks. I had to have a tetanus and now some antibiotics!! Today my right hand has puffed up a bit and although I can type this, it is too sore to do writing and any house work which is a bit of a result!! I'll live. The other hand, my left thumb is swelled as he had a good chomp on that too - a hazard of the job I am afraid and the poor old fox was put too sleep. Not because of me - he was very sick anyway but showed amazing strength. As I was later cajoled, it could have been a badger and they can bite your hands off!!

Anyway I did go back to London Wildcare afterwards as I felt Ok and did some light duties like answering the phone, feeding baby birds and feeding the bats we have in too - it was all OK.

It hasn't put me off foxes - I will just remember to be more careful next time!!

I recently took in two juvenile pigeons ( Pericles and Persephone) a little while ago that I found under Hammersmith Bridge and wanted to release them back there when grown up. Well that time has come, but speaking to Elaine (staff) on Friday she said that could she release them at Beddington because they all get fed twice a day and any poorly ones in the free flying flock, are pulled and brought inside for treatment? Sounds a better option than Hammersmith which is quite urbanised

Well will try not to get bitten next week. I think that is why I like pigeons - they don't hurt you when they peck. Its more like a love bite!!

Tania xx


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

Tania, how frightening! Thank God we don't have rabies in this country!!!!

Cynthia


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## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

Cynthia...RABIES is the FIRST thing I though of when I read Tania's post!!

You DON'T have rabies there?? WOW, that's amazing and I am REALLY glad that you don't!

I was told (but have NO records to prove it) that I had the Rabies series as a child. Therefore, if I am bit, with the possibility, of having to have Rabies shot(s), I can't have the series...they do something else instead. HOPEFULLY, I will NEVER have to find out!!

Tania...I HEAR you about Tetanus...had to have those too when working for a Vet some years ago. Bites tend to happen, sooner or later, dealing with animals!

I am really GLAD to hear you are OK. You will be sore for awhile, but I'm sure will be FIT AS A FIDDLE in no time!! MANY thanks, once again, for the updates!

With LOVE and HUGS

Shi


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Yes - I would certainly be worried. 

I had to have a tetanus when I was at the hospital and follow this up with two more for good measure  - I am also on Augmentin and Amoxicillan as foxy mouths are like pussy cats' mouths when you are a pigeon - dirty! 

Tania x


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

> foxy mouths are like pussy cats' mouths when you are a pigeon - dirty!


Pussy cats' mouths aren't all that clean when you are a person either. A feral kitten bit my finger 32 times, I had to have tetanus jabs and antibiotics...the finger looked like a cooked sausage! LOL.

Cynthia


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## PigeonQueen (Aug 13, 2006)

Hi Tania, I think we should re-name you 'foxy lady'!!!
I hope you are recovering okay . 
I had no idea Wildcare took in Bats and Seagulls.
When I was last at Wildcare, a man phoned to say he was at Hackbridge Station and could someone come and pick up the seagull which apparantly he had carried on the train across London.
I was astonished but good for him. One of the staff went to pick up the bird just as I was leaving.
Well there is never a dull moment Tania!
Will you be there for the open evening on 1st August 5-8pm? I am hoping to be there so might see you then.
Jayne.


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Tania, what a scare but you just acted on instinct to grab the fox and poor little guy was so scared he just bit the closest thing to him. I'm sorry he passed away. I think I've mentioned we have to be really careful with fox and raccoons here because they can be rabid. To the best of my memory, our state wildlife people will not let just any rehabber care for them, you have to call animal control and they're taken to a rehabber with special training and who have received shots to make them less susceptible to rabies. I can't remember if it is the actual rabies vaccine. I'm gonna check that out and let you know. Anyhow, it is scary stuff here. Wonder why GB doesn't have rabies? 

I didn't realize you had to do toilet duties with squirrels. I know many of the rehabbers in our group would rather do mammals than birds and I have never heard them mention this.

Your pigeon population is really large at the center but I know you have fun feeding the babies.

I hope your hand and finger feel lots better real soon.


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## arnieismybaby (Jul 24, 2006)

Tania, just read your latest update. OMG I can only imagine the fright you must have had. At least the experience hasn't put you off foxes, I guess the poor thing was only acting on instinct and despite the fact he was getting help, probably felt very threatened.

I know I don't get here often enough, but I always enjoy reading your updates - you do such wonderful work.

Michelle x


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Jayne - I will be at the members evening so it will be nice to say Hello. Don't worry about me finding you! You are so well known you will be pointed out to me!! 

Good about the seagull wow - I can just imagine - being on the train - it must have been a nightmare - its bad enough with a pigeon scuffling in a box for the strange looks!!- basically London Wildcare will take in anything that isn't classed as "domesticated" - i.e cats and dogs etc. The only thing we don't take in are snakes although saying that if it was an adder I guess we would have to as it is a wild species - but yeah anything goes, mice, slowworms, all types of water birds, wild rabbits and the usual wildlife, badger, deer, fox, birds, squirrels

Yes Maggie with the baby squirells when you have fed them you have to stimulate their "nether regions" so that they urinate and defecate as mum would normally do that by licking them. 

Re rabies - no we don't have in the UK - as we are an island, we have always managed to keep the disease out and that is why we have 6 months quarantine so if say a dog came over from the States with its owners, even with rabies jabs I believe it still has to do 6 months quarantine. Its very sad for the pets and the owner but it safeguards the disease getting in. We are very, very strict with that. 

I am really fine now - it's sore to the touch but I can use it to write type and back on my bike so fine. 

Yes poor old fox - he was in pain, shock and was infact dying with internal bleeding and yes when I put my arm out to grab his scruff, he just reacted and I don't have a problem with that. I was in the wrong - I shouldn't have done that and I won't forget for next time!

Tania x


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## Larry_Cologne (Jul 6, 2004)

Tania,

I think re-habbers should get medals of some sorts (awarded to them by other re-habbers, of course, he way the military awards titles or ranks and medals.

Maybe you can belong to the Order of the Fox-bitten, or the Order of the Out-foxed! 

I have been told most of my life by anyone and everyone that a person should have a DPT Diphtheria-Tetanus-Polio booster every ten years, and i try to keep up-to-date with mine. tetanus is too nasty a thing to risk.

If the gulls are hovering indoors, it must be in a breeze of some kind, right? Do you have a an electric fan or ventilator operating, or are y'all talking so much, or al the animals raising a ruckus? Ha.

Sorry the fox didn't survive. 

Hope you feel much better soon, and have a nice vacation.

*Maggie*, 

From what I've read (since I don't live in Britain), Britain is extremely strict about letting animals into the country, and animals capable of contracting rabies have to submit their animals to quarantine controlled by customs. You can be an Arab sheik or an American movie star or a an Ambassador or other high-ranking diplomat invited by Her Majesty to visit the Queen of England in Buckingham Palace, but your pet dog will be in quarantine for the required length of time. Perhaps a dog surrounded by the U.S. Secret Service and several vets and not allowed outdoors the past few months might prove to be an exception, but the Queen, I surmise, would find it too much of a bother even for a U.S. President, who will be around only four to eight years. Anyway, I've heard they are pretty strict. 

Ireland has been known for not having any snakes, since St. Patrick(?) chased them out, but Frederick Forsythe wrote a short story once involving a very small and thus not noticeable, very poisonous viper. 

Larry


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## flitsnowzoom (Mar 20, 2007)

I think England doesn't have rabies because of their very strict quarantine on mammals. As far as I know, only mammals carry rabies. Around here we have to be cautious of bats and skunks. You cannot trap a skunk and release it because they harbor latent rabies (or so we've been told). In Colorado it's the law that skunks are euthanized if trapped because of rabies. We had one roaming up and down the street last year acting very weird. Circling and staggering.


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## flitsnowzoom (Mar 20, 2007)

I hope that your arm and hands feel much better soon. That must have been pretty exciting for a few minutes. You'll have some lovely scars to go with your story.


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Friday night started with Elaine (staff) telling me not call CanaryJayne about one of her rescues. I had told Jayne that I would check up on a couple of her birds that she was worried about. Apparently Jayne was coming over with another pigeon ( she is amazing to catch so many that need help - the Kingston pigeons are truly blessed with this saviour! ). So Jayne turned up with a pigeon that she had been trying to catch for 3 months. He has fishing line around both feet and when she arrived he really had some poor old swollen and warm feet. As the other staff had gone by now, I wouldn't be able to unravel the line on my own, plus the poor pigeon needed a General Anaesthetic as very deeply embedded, so I gave him some antibiotics, a pain killer, a big dish of seed and water, the seeds which he tucked into, and a nice pink fluffy towel to give some support to those poor old feet and settled him a cabin in the Small Animals Intensive Treatment Unit, with a note for the staff to take a look at him in the morning. 

Friday was pretty quite with only 3 baby pigeons to feed at 9.00pm and 1 bat! So I had a nice evening without too much to do ( sometimes there is so much to do like if you get a glut of baby animals there may be feeds to do) and I panic thinking which animal should I deal with first, who's the most vulnerable etc........... I managed to watch a bit of TV and have my toast and tea at 9.30pm which is pretty reasonable.

The phone rang at 5.45am in the morning waking me but I didn't answer it. Unfortunately due to the pressures of the charity, we have now, very reluctantly had to adopt an approach as do a lot of places to have restricted hours. We are open now from 8.00am to 8.00pm where the phone will be answered and the gates open, but after those time, there is a voicemail message basically advising that any emergencies should be referred to the RSPCA ( who do have tons of money and resources) or in the case of foxes there are two other organisations although not sure if they are 24 hours either as small concerns, or if possible to retain the animal/bird overnight and call us/bring it to us the next day. It was not a decision that was taken lightly, but basically there are 4 staff and Ted. 1 of the staff is fulltime and does 2 nights , 2 others are part time, with one doing two nights and the other 1 is a lovely girl Kimberley who is at University doing Zoology, but gives up all her holiday and spare time to do 5 days and 2 nights a week there - plus Ted who has been doing this for 24/7 for 13 years! Our rescuers are either the staff as mentioned or volunteers who have agreed to be phoned night or day to do a rescue and basically it has got to the point where everybody is tired out - everybody wants the place to suceed and do what it is intended to - to treat British wildlife but without the money we can't take on more staff. If we could then we could have a salaried driver who could solely do rescues - 5 days a week and probably some nights - anyway that is why it is not 24/7 at the moment. It is however 365 days a year so that's OK. Ted always does Xmas day on his own!! Bless him......

It may change if the charity's fortunes change but at the moment we have to be releastic so that is why I had a quiet night! 

Anyway due to holiday time a lot of the volunteers were off so I didn't have to do clinical work yesterday and was put in the Bird Ward with Emily who is a super young lady but is off to University to become a vet but will come back in her holidays to help out - once you get the wildlife bug you can't help it......

So I had a really nice day as the bird ward has the 4 gulls, lots of ducks and ducklings, a coot, some song birds and loads of pigeons, so as we had to clean all the cages and feed and water the birds, I got to cuddle lots of pigeons which was lovely.  I really enjoyed that part. I also had to leave early for a friends party which was OK, but I didn't know many people and when it got to 6.00pm I though to myself " Aw I could have been helping with the porridge feeds now for the pigeons" - I quite like doing that - especially the babies - they get so excited when you approach their cage with a syringe bursting with porridge and rusk!! and there is one juvenile who squeaks and spins around in circles in excitement ( he doesn't have PMV) jiust gets so excited when you are going to feed him!

Anyway back there Wednesday, have a day off work - hurrah -we have a members day and there is nothing I like more that chatting to people about the animals and birds we currently have in.

Ted is currently working very hard on the "Gullery" which is a enclosure for our growing number of gulls - we have 8 plus 1 on the pond - it is a landscaped concrete affair with large rocks for perching on and has a pool at the bottom and it will have high fences to keep the foxes out, but an open part so that if the gulls want to leave they can - we had 2 gulls on the pond until very recently - must have been there for a year - just never wanted to leave - well 1 has gone now and the other is left on his own with all the ducks, so when the Gullery is done which hopefully should be in a week or two he can join the others....poor thing - we give the ducks and the geese bread, floating pellets, corn and greens and the gull has catfood and chopped up chicks and he has to scuttle over to his food quickly to eat as the geese will muscle in and they will eat chicks! Cannibals......

Wrist is much better, bruising nearly gone and just a few nice healing scars to show where the teeth had been!

Tania xx


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

Another shift over - again always interesting..... when I arrived Friday, Ted and two of the staff were supposed to be celebrating the finishing of the gullery but it is isn't quite done - it needs a roof!! This is going to happen Monday so hopefully the gulls will be in the outside then - we have 8 of the little darlings at the moment ( all herring gulls so big!). Anyhow we sent out for takeaway pizza and opened two bottles of wine, but animal lovers be assured I had half a glass and then did the final feeds of the evening - 6 baby pigeons, 2 squirrel pups ( eyes not open) and mealworms for the bat. Once they were done, I could have another glass of wine............. Got to bed at 1.00am!

Next day brought the first patient - a very skinny feral who on closer inspection showed he had canker. He has been treated with Flagyl and is having to being gavaged due to the blockages in his throat. He is quite bad and had no strength. I was able to place him on the treatment table to give him some rehydrating fluid with critical care formula mixed in and he never moved a muscle - poor thing. 

I helped Kim in the Bird Ward - which meant reassessing all the pigeons, weighing them and seeing if any need extra porridge feeds or if any could have theirs cut down. Only two birds were down in weight and some had done so well, they are getting their extra feeds cut ...... well as Kim says if they want to be free, they have to learn to feed themselves. I would add that all our pigeons that are on porridge feeds, even the small ones are always given water and millet seed too to encourage them to get eating on their own.

4 feral pigeons and 2 collared doves were deemed fit and well to go outside into the aviaries and so tasted fresh air for once - it was an absolutely lovely day yesterday so I think it was probably really nice for them and a chance to spread their wings and practise flying again. All the birds released into the aviaries are treated with Panacur and Spartrix ( if they haven't already had this) to ensure they are healthy. 

We currently have 8 birds with PMV ( one is a racer, another a beautiful white fantail and another grey pigeon - to describe, very small beak and feathers are really fluffy and small- definitely a fancy pigeon of sorts) with the others being ferals. Most of these birds have extra feeds.

We had a baby moorhen brought in - he was probably only about two days old - it was very sad as he was cheeping for his mum.  Apparently the person who picked him up did wait for 30 minutes before picking him up and I am sure mum would have appeared within that time. They are quite hard to hand rear and is on half hourly mealworm feeds - which is not easy and you have to force his beak open - it must be awful for the poor little thing. He will probably go off to one of our volunteers homes, as she has time and the experience of handrearing these kind of birds.

One of my final tasks was to help Kimberley round up two of our Aylesbury ducks who are having leg joint problems - due to their breed they have heavy bodies which causes pain in their legs - we had to round them up into a corner by the pond - catch one each - pop a Rimadyl table down them ( this is a pain killer) and then put them on the pond for about 5 minutes so that they get a bit of physio. Whilst we were doing this, we noticed a white pigeon lurking on the ground. I had see him earlier that day and had tried to catch him then but he flew onto the roof but did not feed with the others - this time Kimberly caught him with the words " too easy" , felt him over and put him back in the aviary - he is one our releases who has probably gone a bit too early. Kimberley had also seen another pigeon looking a bit quiet and again was able to catch him easily - he was very thin, so into the heatcage he went, food and water and going back onto the porridge list for 2 force feeds too - probably another young bird, which we have released but who has not quite worked out what he should be doing - but that is the beauty of releasing the birds into the flock - we can spot the vulnerable ones, bring them back in until they are ready again.

Before I left I checked the Bird Ward as the eight gulls were having freedom of the ward - otherwise they are cooped up in their cages ( until Monday when Ted will have the net roof on their new residence) - and when I went in there it was like a disaster movie - syringes and kidney dishes all over the floor ( these are for the porridge feeds and are placed very neatly on top of each relevant pigeon's cages) so I left Kim having to sterilise all the syringes that were knocked over or displaced - naughty gulls - but they are rather cute!!

Anyway - another long post - but lots of it about pigeons - as it was quite a "pigeon" day for me.......

Tania xx


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## wildlife-rehab (Jul 8, 2007)

haha youve had an ace day!

i cant wait to get to work tomorrow, its really strange tho reading your posts because the sanctuary where i work has a totally differnt amount of certain animals, such as at the minute we are completly full with hedgehogs! soo many of them haha i supposed the differnt areas you are in then the differnt species you get the most of, bird wise its been another year full of house martins, swifts, swallows and PIGEONS to name a few, 
the centre is not open threwout the night so staff often take baby birds and mammels home which need late feeds and last year i had so many pigeons that when i went to buy a pet rat one of the girls insited i called him pigeon! and thats exactly what i did hehe  

i work in the stafforshire area at The British Wildlife Rescue Centre and i love it so much i work there 4 days a week, its amazing because it never gets boring and no day is the same as im sure you know!

ive loved reading your posts and comparing it to my expierecences 
im only 19 and have been working with wildlife for 2 years now and have no intentions to give it up!

to me its such an amazing privialge to be able to work with these animals, and to watch animals that have been reared and treated to be let back into the wild

please keep posting because ive just sat for a good hour reading all your past and present posts and its been really interesting!

abby x


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## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

Well, now, Abby. I think it's YOUR turn to start a thread and telling us about YOUR experiences.

Not all of us have the opportunities that you and Tania have. 

Our site members can learn a lot from your experiences!

Wishing you all the best!

Shi & Squeaks


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

wildlife-rehab said:


> haha youve had an ace day!
> 
> i cant wait to get to work tomorrow, its really strange tho reading your posts because the sanctuary where i work has a totally differnt amount of certain animals, such as at the minute we are completly full with hedgehogs! soo many of them haha i supposed the differnt areas you are in then the differnt species you get the most of, bird wise its been another year full of house martins, swifts, swallows and PIGEONS to name a few,


Thanks Abby - well we have some hedgehogs but probably only about 10 - it's mostly ducks, fox cubs, pigeons and blackbirds with smatterings of other animals in between.

Yes I am only a volunteer but I absolutely love it there. It gets me through the week of working in a bank ( majorly boring) to know that on a Friday night I am going to London Wildcare and will be there all day Saturday - I go home absolutely exhausted but mostly happy.

You are lucky - you are young - make the most of it and enjoy.

You are right it is a privilege to be with these animals. One day a jay landed on my arm and just looked at me - jays are so timid in the wild and yet this beautiful bird decided to land on me - I truly felt privileged. 

Tania x


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## wildlife-rehab (Jul 8, 2007)

that will of been an amazing expierence! jays are beautiful birds, not many people will be able to say a jay landed on them! LUCKY. it takes a dedicated and pasionate person to spend thier friday night helping out and not going out up town!

hope to hear from you soon
abby x


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## kittypaws (Sep 18, 2005)

*Pigeon Week!*

When I arrived Friday night - I was told that it was "Pigeon Week" ! Pigeons had been arriving all week from all manner of situations. Of course this number was boosted by CanaryJayne's little one's - 21 in all - all rescued from under a railway bridge that was being pulled down ( a separate post has been started about this). In the first hour of me arriving - 4 more pigeons came through the door, 3 ferals and one woodie. The woodie was very ill with canker as was one of the ferals but the other two were mystery illness birds - one very light and young and found by a two men and another, good weight but weak in the legs - he was found by a policeman, taken to the Police Station where one of the officers has a good friend who brings animals to us....... 

So we have about 90 pigeons at the hopsital. In Small Animals Intensive Unit we have 12 of Jayne's squabs, 7 PMV birds, 2 canker and the other 8 injuries or illness. The Bird ward has 50 pigeons/doves/woodpigeons and there are about 20 in the outside aviary! That's not to mention the 100 plus that come and feed at the Centre too!!

One of my jobs was to do all the porridge feeds and with the 12 babies needing 3 hourly feeds plus strict instructions from Kimberley, one of the nurses that on no circumstances must any of "her babies" die, I managed to leave Saturday night with all "her babies" still thriving!! There are also the normal, 9am, 1pm, 4pm, 6pm ( which is about 60 birds on this feed) and the 9pm feeds so - pretty busy - we are using 50mls syringes and hibiscrub like its going out of fashion. Kim ( who is a different lady to Kimberly) and does the shopping for the centre brought in 2 boxes of porridge oats and then said " Oh crikey " I am going to need go shopping again in a few days - it will never last...."  

I had 3 calls about a herring gull on a playing field near a hospital. Apparently it had been seen the night before but no-one picked it up ( The wildlife hospital wasn't advised of the gull until the next morning!) - I managed to persude one of the callers to try and pick it up. 30 Minutes later a genetleman with a jute shopping bag, handed the bag over to me with a very poorly herring gull sitting inside . He is very weak, has been attacked by something and we are not sure if he will make it. Unfortunately Kim wasn't able to insert an intravenous drip into his leg to hydrate him as he was getting very distressed when she was trying. They are usually inserted into their neck if the leg is difficult but this boy's neck was so sore we couldn't do that - so we had to gavage him which he didn't like and was promptly sick - so we will have to wait and see.

Fairly quiet admissions wise - there has been a slight lull but it will pick up with the squirrel season descending on us again and of course we are always getting the pigeons, the catted birds and the others victims of cars, other species attack etc.

The gullery is finished and the gulls are really loving it., They have a lovely pond to dip and preen in and of course Jackie's wonderful mural on the backdrop depicting a coastline and sunset....!! to make them feel at home.

One not so nice thing but kinda of amusing ( in a sick way). We had a beautiful song thrush brought in Friday night - had been grounded but looked fine so we decided to give it cage rest and test fly in the morning. In the morning when I did my checks the thrush was Ok but about an hour later, I returned to do something in the bird ward and found the thrush had died. It was very sad as it was so beautiful. It was possibly shock that had killed him. I placed the thrush in the treatment room next to my other overnight casualty - a fledgling blackbird who had not looked good the night before.
The door to the treatment room was slightly ajar. I went to do something else and when I came back the thrush had gone! Next minute I see Lucy, Ted's cat with a feather in her mouth so of course this was where the thrush had gone - madam had helped herself. So I confessed to Kim that I had left the door open and if anyone found a partly eaten thrush, it was dead before Lucy got to it. One of the volunteers found Lucy later, sitting on her prize! Bad girl.

Just as I was leaving Jan from our little Ealing Centre arrived with two more pigeons brought in to her, one with canker and another a shot bird. Apparently there is a nasty person near Ealing shooting pigeons. She had received a squab too which had been handed in at a vets, they had put the squab in a tupperware box with a teatowel over it, had not kept it warm and did not take it to Jan until 5 hours later. The poor little thing died. 

Anyhow that's another busy, but rewarding weekend at London Wildcare.

Tania xxxx

PS - Moorhen mentioned in previous post doing well!


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