With your support, we’re able to provide love and expert care for the animals that need it most.
Latest News
Another swan was released today. This young, but very large cob was escorted off a busy town centre main road by the Police, who subsequently called us for advice. We went to his help and collected him, over the past few days he's been checked over and assessed. He received the final all clear today so he was released. Mating Swans are extremely territorial and so swans should never be released anywhere, if they are released into the territory of a mating pair, they will fight. Therefore if we are unable to release where they were located, we release to known areas where there are groups of single, non territorial swans. There he'll eventually find his mate for life and look for his own territory.
We rescued this young swan last week after they crash landed on a wet road, causing lacerations to one of his legs. After healing and receiving a full health check, they was released.
Yesterday we responded to a call regarding a suspected dog attack on a swan. On examination there were deep bite wounds to both sides of the swan, there was blood loss and they were clearly very subdued. We got an emergency appointment at our vets, who promptly gas-down, cleaned the wounds, stitched up and administered powerful pain relief before discharging back into our care. Sadly despite all of our efforts, they deteriorated and passed away a few hours later. Healthy adult Swans have very few predators, it's so sad that this yearling has been subjected to such a disturbing and stressful, yet totally preventable death. This death is not the fault of any dog, it is that of the irresponsible dog owner, who didn't stay around to face the consequences, to offer help or offer to contribute to pay our significant vets bills. Whilst many pet owners are very responsible, they keep their dogs under control around wildlife, sadly some irresponsible owners allow their dogs to chase, stress and injure and in this case, mutilate and kill wildlife. It is quite rightly a criminal offence to have an out of control dog in public, attacking wildlife is certainly a definition of a dog out of control. R.I.P. Mr Swan, we did everything we could for you 😌.
The buzzard we admitted recently after being trapped in netting, is making a progressive recovery and on course to be released. This chap's story even made the BBC news website! An initial examination confirmed feather damage from the netting and a faecal analysis confirmed he had two parasites, fluke and roundworm. We started treatment for the parasites however he wasn't making any attempt to get off the ground, so we took him to our vets for x-rays. These revealed that he had a respiratory infection, most probably aspergillosis, a fungal infection which would have been picked up from becoming wet, run down and grounded, the fungal spores are often in soil. We are a few days into the drug treatments for the parasites and aspergillosis and he's allready started flying again, that's great news. We'll repeat his faecal analysis once he has complete his drug course to ensure the parasites have gone and then he'll be ready for release back to his home.
This beautiful young pigeon arrived this morning, a kind and caring member of the public took a 40 minute taxi journey to get him to us. We just love people who care about animals as much as we do, and will take such measures to help. This little man is doing just fine, such a pretty boy!
It has taken us some time to go through our records for 2024, but finally we can report on the great work we have achieved in the year. In 2024 we rescued 866 animals, of these 189 wild animals were rehabilitated and successfully released back into the wild, we rehomed 72 pets and 187 farm animals into loving homes, whilst caring for 156 remaining at the sanctuary. In the same period, we had to turn away a staggering 1,541 pets as we can only take in more pets, when space is created by people choosing to rescue, rather than fueling the pet industry, motivated by money. We rehomed 25 cats after blood testing, neutered, vaccinated, health checks etc, yet had to say no to a shocking 598! We neutered, vaccinated and rehomed 45 rabbits yet had to turn away a shocking 255! Leading up to the Covid pandemic, each year we had to turn away on average 500 pets a year, post pandemic this has more than tripled! Nationwide the figures must be truly shocking, please always consider offering a home to a rescued animal, never line the pockets of breeders motivated by greed.
Another net victim! This buzzard was found trapped in goal post netting which had to be cut away to free them. As the netting is relatively thick, thankfully there aren't any laceration's, however there is damage to many flight feathers as well as soft tissue trauma caused by thier attempts to get free. The buzzard is eating, but unable to gather strength to attempt to get off the ground let alone fly, only time will tell if we are able to save this beautiful bird and release back into the wild.
Early in the new year we admitted this young swan after a dog attack, finally today they have recovered well enough to be released. As well as a very nasty bite wound from the dog, internal trauma had caused subcutaneous emphysema. The treatment included a prolonged course of antibiotics, anti-inflammatory pain relief and topic antibiotics. Today we released into an area with a group of other single swans, in the wild. Its vital that dog walkers keep thier pets under control at all times especially around wildlife, even if a dog cannot catch an animal, it can cause stress, cause animals to abandoned thier babies etc. In fact not keeping a dog under control allowing it to attack wildlife is a criminal offence.
This week the cows had a routine pedicure. This is painless, but stressful for our babies, and to be honest us too as we have to move the cows into the equipment, something they certainly don't want to do. Our thanks go to Holt Contracting Hoof Care Specialist for a great service as ever, treating our boys and girls with care, and thank you UKTH Group Ltd for the huge discount and prompt delivery of the generator.
From the weekend we have mixed news. Sadly the Heron which we rescued from becoming tangled up in garden plastic netting last week has passed, ultimately the stress and trauma proved too much for them. Yesterday though we released on of two kestrels we have in our care, after a few weeks it was time to see them go back into the wild.
The grounded, starving buzzard we admitted in December was released yesterday after a full health assessment and back to thier correct weight. Being a territorial bird, we aim where possible, to release back to thier home territory. This one was found on the side of the A38 and as we had a precise location, we could release in a safe location very close by. After a short rest in a tree, they were off.
Our modern sterilised, plasticised gardens are often a wildlife desert and often a wildlife death trap, all too often we take calls for trapped and injured wildlife caught in garden netting or plastic ornaments as well as horrific injuries inflicted on hedgehogs from bonfires and garden strimmers. Yesterday we rescued a garden victim, we went to the help of this Heron, after they became entangled in pond plastic netting and as a result badly injured in thier fight for freedom. Once in our hospital, the first task was to remove the remains of the plastic netting, in a panic to free themselves, the netting had become very entangled and caused a lot of trauma. We could then clean them up and carry out a thorough examination. As they could hardly stand and the right wing was hanging, we decided to get them straight to our vets to be gassed down and x-rayed. Thankfully the x-ray doesn't show any internal damage or broken bones. Whilst this is positive news, it's a very, very long road to recovery which will take many weeks, there is a lot of soft tissue trauma needing treatment and time to recover, in addition there is a lot of feather damage which needs to repair. Herons are not easy birds to treat and keep in captivity, not least thier very long sharp beaks which we have to avoid, they also get very stressed and often don't feed, if they don't eat, we have to force feed and this can lead to regurgitation and an almost impossible task. As always, we will try our very best and give this Heron the best chances.
A beautiful sky early this morning as we went to check on some of our rescue ponies and cows. This is our largest feild at 12 acres.
Animals for Adoption
The Charity
Wildlife
