Helping hand for animals great and small

They come to the aid of more than 2,000 sick, injured and orphaned animals and birds from in and around Staffordshire every year.

Their goal is to return each one back into the wild as part of an ever growing need for wildlife conservation by providing vital and lifesaving care and rehabilitation.

At this time of year it's all hands on decks as the rescue centre, which is the process of moving to a new purpose-built wildlife hospital based in Weston, near Stafford, has a influx of young animals and birds.

"The spring and summer months are the busiest because it's baby season. We get a lot of hedgehogs that have been orphaned, baby wood pigeons because they are notorious for making bad nests and we also get a lot of ducklings.

"The baby birds keep us busy because some days it's just nest after nest. We might get a call from someone who has found a nest while clearing out their shed or found a single duckling out by itself -you should never see just one on its own," explains volunteer Abby Gower, who has been part of the team for more than decade.

Members of the public will contact the centre, which operates 365 days a year, if they've found an injured or sick animal or bird.

While veterinary practices will also refer people to the team if they turn up at their surgery with a creature in need.

One of the patients receiving some TLC when Weekend paid a visit to the centre was 16-week-old female badger cub Bea.

She had been found by a passing policeman next to the body of her mother who had been hit by car in Codsall.

The team monitored the site where Bea was discovered for a week to see if there were any other cubs but none were found.

Bea was just two weeks old when she was taken in by the rescue centre so she needed around the clock feeds.

Sadly, she can never be returned to wild as she has congenital cataracts in her eyes.

"When she first opened her eyes we noticed they were cloudy. At first we thought it was caused by an infection but it turned out she has these cataracts.

"She does have some vision but as she gets older they will get progressively worse.

"We are hoping to find her a home at a sanctuary where there are other badgers as she needs to be part of a group," explains 32-year-old Abby.

Also making the rescue centre their temporary home were around a dozen ducklings of varying ages.

Each year the team takes in around 200 orphaned mallard ducklings as well as orphaned geese, swans, golden eyes, tufted ducklings and gooseander chicks.

"Ducklings are the cutest but they are also the messiest because they like water and will make a mess in no time at all.

"It’s lovely when they’re just been cleaned out but they don’t stay clean for long," says Abby, who lives in Stoke.

Receiving medical treatment for lungworm is hedgehog Harry. "Hedgehogs aren't have a good time of it right now. They get stuck in litter,eat slug pellets and get injured by strimmers. Bless them they don't have much luck.

"But people need to be more aware of them or we aren't going to have any left. They can have two litters a year but often the later ones born in the autumn aren't big enough to make it through the winter without some extra help. We had 50 at the centre over winter that we've recently released." Abby tells us.

Hand-rearing, which can include feeds at all hours of the day and night, is one of the highlights of her work, she says. "It's tiring but it's so worth it. When you start, they're so tiny and you watch and help them grow until hopefully they are ready to released.

"By the time you let them go, they don't want anything to do with you and want to run away, which is exactly the way it should be as they belong in the wild.

Realising an animal back into the wild is what makes their hard work so worthwhile and rewarding "It's definitely the best bit especially when you've had one that's been very poorly and you fear the worse but it's got better and then you see it released - it doesn't get better than that," says Abby who first started as a volunteer 12 years ago.

Unfortunately, sometimes the team has to admit defeat and put a patient to sleep. "It's always sad when we have to do this but when their injuries are very bad it's better to end their suffering. We get a lot of baby birds that have been caught by cats and tormented.

"They're just so little that they can't survive their injuries. But it's always worse when their injuries have been caused by humans or man-made objects like a hedgehog being caught by a strimmer," says Abby.

But the good times far outweigh the sad moments she tells us remembering a buzzard that had collapsed in the grounds of Alton Towers. It was touch-and-go for the bird of prey and the team needed to work quickly to save its life.

"It didn't look good at all when it came in but we got it rehydrated and treated its injuries and it was amazing, we were able to let it go. That was a great moment," recalls Abby.

As part of her role, she gives talks in schools around the country and believes education about our native species is key. "Some children have never seem a hedgehog or an earthworm so it's important to talk to them about our native wildlife and the work we do to help them," explains Abby.

Her advice for anyone who finds an injured or sick animal or bird is to call a rescue centre or a wildlife hospital as as soon as they can.

"It's best to pop it in a secure but ventilated box. People should do this carefully and slowly so they don't become agitated.

"It's best to use a towel to handle hedgehogs and birds of prey. The towel can be put inside the box to keep them warm and give them some cover to hide under.

"If animal or bird appears to be orphaned it's best to observe them for a while in case a parent comes back.

"Often they look like they have been abandoned but they've just left the nest and the parents are close by or the parents are getting food and will return later.

"If it's looks like genuine orphan they need to be kept warm and dry and people should call a wildlife hospital for advice on what to do next," says Abby.

It currently costs around £68,000 a year to run the wildlife hospital and the money comes entirely from donations, fundraising, sponsorships and help from supporters.

"We don't receive any government funding so we are really grateful for the donations we receive because we couldn't do what we do without the public's help," says Abby.

*Anyone who wants to support the British Wildlife Rescue Centre can find out more at www.facebook.com/thebwrc