Voil Vet stories

Swan, buzzard and fox

successes for the team

Storm Desmond Two otter cubs orphaned

Hedgehogs Conservation and balloon Syndrome

News Fundraising / Education / Wildlife Hospital / Cattery

Contents

Stapeley Grange Wildlife Centre and Cattery

Contributors

Dr. Bev Panto BSc

(Hons) BVetMed

CertAVP MRCVS

Veterinary Officer

Dr. Sara Shopland

BVSc BSc (Hons)

CertAVP MRCVS

Veterinary Surgeon

Charlie Pass

Education Officer

Director of ‘WildAid’

Samantha Taylor

Volunteer

Coordinator

t’s been another busy year for the wildlife and cattery teams in 2015. Whilst the cattery team re-homed a total of 265 cats and kittens, 6143 animals were admitted into the wildlife hospital; this figure was just 93 animals down on 2014 which was our busiest year on record. 5712 of those admitted were wild, 371 were domestic and 60 exotic, 4294 were classified as birds (75.2%), 1412 mammals (24.7%); the remaining six admissions were reptiles and amphibians. Wood pigeons (837), Hedgehog (730), Mallard ducks (549), Mute swans (390) and blackbirds (293) made up our top 5 line up, which was fairly normal in terms of our top 5. Whilst 44% of wild animals were released, 72% of all domestic and exotics admitted were re-homed or transferred to a third party. With 2015 behind us, the wildlife team are now working hard to prepare for the crazy Spring season when we will see 100’s of orphaned animals admitted each week. As well as deep cleaning the hospital we are also starting to induct and train our new cohort of volunteers and student placements, who we rely heavily upon over Spring and Summer. As well as caring for the 1000s of animals that arrive each year, Charlie and his education team shall also be receiving and educating as many schools, colleges and university groups as possible. The team shall also now be visiting schools in Shropshire through a newly established Ambassador Programme. Our vet team shall continue to receive and train vet students from Liverpool vet school on week long exotic rotations and Sam and her fundraising team are making plans to raise as much money as possible over the coming 11 months. So it looks like another busy year for the team!!

I Welcome

Welcome

Fundraising events 2016

Website and social media

Hooked swan

Buzzard with broken beak Snared fox

Rescued baby otters

Hedgehog conservation Council support Balloon syndrome

Education News Champions Wildlife Quiz

Fundraising News Spring Fair Hairdressers Walk

Cattery News Long stay cats Stoke couple’s promise of support

Woodpigeon squab

'If you would like to

support the work of

Stapeley Grange with a

donation of

just £3, simply

text RSPCA2 to 70007‘

Texts cost £3 +

standard network rate

WEBSITES AND SOCIAL MEDIA

Wildlife: www.rspca/stapeley-grange-wildlife-

centre

Cattery: www.rspca/stapeley-grange-cattery

Follow us @

RSPCA-Wildlife

Follow us @

RSPCAStapeley

Fundraising Events 2016

March 19th

Spring Fair / Car Boot Sale

April 30th

Pamper Day

June 6th - 12th

RSPCA Week

May 27th

Bat Walk

July 3rd

Summer Open Day

July 17th

Car Boot Sale

September 2nd – 4th

Nantwich Food Festival

September 9th

Bat Walk

October 1st

Dinner Dance – tbc

October

Black Cat

Awareness Month

Nov-Dec

Stapeley Star Campaign /

Purrfect Present Appeal

December 4th

Christmas Fair

nce again our fundraising group are pulling

out all the stops to raise as much money for the

Centre as possible. With so many mouths to feed

each year, the team are looking to raise funds locally

through corporate sponsorship and community

events. The team are hoping to raise close to their

target of £14,000 but for them to do so, they will

need the continued support of the local community,

which has been incredible over recent years.

Whether you have the time to help out with the

organising of an event, to support events on the day

or providing event prizes, or have the time to bake

cakes for one of our fairs or are happy to help

advertising an event to your friends and family

through social media, it is all really important. By

supporting the team you will be indirectly helping to

feed and care for all the animals in the wildlife

hospital and cattery.

If you are in a position to help please contact Sam

via email: samantha.taylor@rspca.org.uk. She

would genuinely love to hear from you.

O

Stapeley Grange You Tube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9I3pW2N0h07gHk75hz59-g

his swan was admitted to Stapeley early January from Middlewich canal, with a soft swelling on the right side of his face. He was also thin and quiet. When we looked inside his mouth a wound could be seen on the right side, just next to where the swelling was. Unfortunately it was not possible to examine the wound further as it obviously very painful, so an anaesthetic was needed. The swan was given pain relief and anaesthetised. An x-ray showed that the wound was an entry point for a hook, which had lodged itself in the side of his face. This hook had caused a lot of tissue reaction, swelling and infection. The would must have been causing a lot of discomfort, likely preventing him from eating much, hence his condition.

The hook was carefully removed through the wound inside the mouth, and the area flushed with antibacterial solution to clean it. A course of antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and pain relief were prescribed to aid the healing process. A lead test also revealed he was poisoned with lead, so we began treating him for this as well.

The swan recovered well from the anaesthetic and began eating pretty much straight away. The following day he was extremely bright - a much happier swan! After finishing his medications, the swelling had reduced in size, he was therefore moved to one of our outdoor pools before being released a few weeks later.

Yet another sad admission that highlights the problems our feathery friends are facing with discarded fishing litter. We are regularly documenting such cases in the press to try and highlight and educate anglers around the country. As well as making sure they take all their line home and cutting it into small pieces before they bin it, we are also asking that they not leave line in trees that can entangle birds and that they not leave bait and tackle unattended whilst our fishing.

Swelling

X-ray showing swelling and hook

The removed hook which had

been causing the swelling and

that was seen in the x-ray

Discarded fishing litter

hooks poor swan

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Simple steps really, but steps that could help reduce the number of animals coming into the hospital for similar conditions

THE FOLLOWING DAY HE WAS EXTREMELY

BRIGHT – A FAR HAPPPIER

SWAN!

his buzzard was brought to us just before Christmas, having been found by the side of a road in Chester. On examination she had blood in her mouth and her lower beak was obviously damaged. We suspected that she had been in a collision with a car, resulting in head trauma. Her eyes were examined, which revealed haemorrhage in the back of her left eye – fortunately damage was minimal so we were hopeful that this would heal with some rest.

An anaesthetic was needed to assess for any further damage. Luckily only the lower beak was fractured. Whilst under anaesthetic the beak fracture was thoroughly cleaned, the bones re-aligned and the soft tissues overlying the fracture sutured closed to keep out infection. She was given a course of antibiotics and pain relief. It was very important to ensure that the fracture would heal without causing any deviation of the beak, otherwise there was a risk that the beak would overgrow and she would not be able to close it properly; this would mean that she would not be able to feed in the wild.

Over the following 2 weeks all her food was chopped into small pieces so that she did not have to put any pressure on her beak to eat; this would have prevented the fracture from healing. We were all pleased to see that after 2 weeks the beak was more stable. She was subsequently moved to an outside aviary to give her more space to fly where she was now given whole prey items.

Buzzard with broken beak

On the 13th January she was given a final and full health check – the haemorrhage in her eye had resolved and her fracture had completely healed with no signs of deviation of the beak. She was now ready to go home, so was signed off for release.

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THE BONES RE-ALIGNED AND THE SOFT TISSUE OVERLYING THE FRACTURE SUTURED CLOSED TO KEEP OUT INFECTION

nder the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, free running snares are legal for controlling foxes. They are designed to capture, but not to kill , and they loosen when an animal stops struggling. Self locking snares, which were banned 35 years ago, were designed to kill by strangulation – the more the fox struggles to get free, the tighter they become. Sadly, some landowners are still using these illegal snares, and all too often we see the horrific results of them, in foxes and other wild animals picked up by our inspectorate team. Even the legal snares, if not checked daily can result in nasty wounds, and immeasurable distress to wild animals. Back in November, we admitted a young male fox, who had been caught in an illegal snare. The snare was embedded deeply around the fox’s back and hind legs and there was a large circular wound all the way around his body, from where the snare wire had cut into his skin and underlying muscle. He had not been found for a few days, and the wound had become infected, and the fox was very weak from struggling to escape. The snare was removed and the fox was assessed by our veterinary team, and given immediate pain relief, and fluids to treat the shock.

It was a very difficult decision whether to treat this fox, or to humanely end its suffering there and then – his wounds were so deep and infected, and the fox so weak that his chances of recovery were poor. We decided to give him a chance, and once he was stable, anaesthetised him to clean and fully examine the wounds and take some X-rays to check there were no other injuries caused by the snare or his struggling. There were no other injuries, so his wounds were cleaned and treated daily by our team and he was put on a long course of antibiotics and pain killers.

Illegal use of snare causes

horrific injuries to innocent fox

With intensive care, he gradually began to respond to treatment, and the stronger he became, the faster his wounds seemed to heal. Within a few days he was eating well, and starting to explore his cubicle in our isolation unit. After about two weeks, the wounds had healed so well that we were able to move him to an outside run to give him a bit more freedom. The hair started to grow back, and he was running and jumping around like a normal healthy young fox, less than a month after being admitted. He will always have the scars of his ordeal, but we were thrilled to be able to release him just before Christmas – a great festive success for our team, after everyone’s hard work to get him recovered fit for release. This fox was very lucky to have been found in time, but other foxes and animals that get caught in these illegal snares, may not be quite so fortunate.

For more information about living

alongside foxes -

http://www.rspca.org.uk/advicean

dwelfare/wildlife/inthewild/foxes

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Local support for our work over the last few years has been incredible and given the current economic climate we need all the support we can get. This time it was Morrisons who agreed to help with some fish donations, which we (and our otters) have really appreciated. “British wildlife is something we must treasure. As a country girl I've grown up surrounded by wildlife. I've never yet had the chance to see a wild otter, so it has been amazing for Morrsions to be able to help these orphans in this small way.” Rachel Lewis (Community Champion Nantwich)

Our two otters were found by a member of the public in Rea Brook, Shrewsbury, on 23 December. They were left orphaned after becoming separated from their mum, they were victims of storm Desmond. We are often asked whether we receive large numbers of wildlife casualties during or after big storms and floods but to be honest apart from otters, seals and offshore birds such as gannets we generally don’t. This is because most of the animals will try to avoid the storms or floods however if they don’t manage to avert the danger, they sadly die. In the wild, our otter pups would have been fed by mum who would need to regularly hunt and supply fish for them to eat, but now our pair - who we have named Mary and Joseph (due to being found 2 days before Christmas Day) - are being fed 500g of trout a day by our team. For the first week or so the team were monitoring them daily but now that they are doing well, they are pretty much left to their own devices as much as possible. They are always hungry and are getting through a lot of fish and as Trout doesn’t come cheap, it has already cost us about £300 on fish alone and this will increase monthly as our little otter pups grow. We are expecting to spend close to £3,000 on these two orphaned pups during their stay with us.

In the past, otter pups would have been triaged and stabilised here before being transferred to other specialised otter rehabilitation facilities, but with a more healthy otter population in the UK we are seeing more otter pups coming into care than in previous years; which means these facilities are filling up quicker. Thanks to financial support from WG Harvey Discretionary Settlement we now have the facilities to hold on to two groups of otters for the nine months before they are returned to the wild."

Baby otters orphaned by floods work up a fishy appetite at Stapeley

Morrisons step in to help with fish

donations

Rachel with Rob Scrivens

WE ARE EXPECTING TO

SPEND CLOSE TO £3000 ON THESE TWO ORPHANED

PUPS

Hedgehog Conservation

It is commonly known that the UK’s favourite mammal (according to a 2015 BBC wildlife poll), the hedgehog, is in trouble. The Hedgehog Preservation Society and the People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) have analysed data from four surveys conducted between 2000-2014 and have suggested a continuing decline in both rural and urban landscapes, of several % each year. Our beloved hedgehogs are now declining in the UK at a similar rate to global tiger populations.

So what is causing their decline? Unsurprisingly, their decline is thought can be largely attributed to climate change, to changes in rural land use and urbanisation that has led to habitat loss and the fragmentation of habitats. Hedgehog Street is one extremely simple idea that we can all get involved in which involves us opening up our urban gardens to hedgehogs - http://www.hedgehogstreet.org/

UK wildlife rehabilitators are helping to bolster declining populations by returning as many fit and healthy hedgehogs as possible. Stapeley Grange alone has released 2602 hedgehogs over the last 10 years so as a collection of rehabilitators in the UK we have probably released tens of thousands over the last decade which has helped to support our prickly friends in their time of trouble.

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200

400

600

800

1000

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Admitted

Released

ike most wildlife facilities taking in hedgehogs we experience two peaks during the year, one in June/July and the other in September. Peaks arise because of two distinct breeding seasons. We can, at any time, have up to 200 in care and as quick as we are feeding them, it seems to come out of the other end!! We therefore rely heavily on members of the public to help us with providing newspaper and shredded paper. In December we were down to our last bag of newspaper and shredded paper so an appeal was sent out via facebook.

We received a fantastic response from many people including Stoke-on-Trent City Council. Cllr Abigail Brown, Becky smith (pictured left) and Jeremy Herbert visited the Centre to see where their papers were going.

S-O-T Council recycling for our hogs

It was a delight to meet so many of your patients and fascinating to learn about how much effort and expertise that goes into treating and looking after them. We were really impressed by the team’s dedication, commitment and professionalism. Before I visited I had a high regard for the RSPCA and its work, but this was broadened and deepened by everything I learned from you on Friday. It was a truly inspiring experience and I was delighted to think that the city council will be able to help, even in a small way.” Cllr Abigail Brown (Deputy Leader)

ow often do we now hear people saying that they have not seen a wild hedgehog for years, only dead ones on the road? H

L

For more information helping hedgehogs in the wild:

http://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/wildlife/inthewild/gardenhedgehogs

alloon syndrome in hedgehogs is one of those weird and wonderful conditions that wildlife vets have heard stories of, but is actually very rare. Our vet, Bev was actually starting to wonder if it was a bit of an urban legend, until hedgehog was admitted just before Christmas. Staff noticed straight away that he seemed very light for his apparent size and on examination, he was actually blown up like a balloon, with lots of air under his skin, making him look about twice his actual size. He was anaesthetized straight away to examine him properly, and look for any injuries. X-rays were taken to confirm that the swelling was indeed due to air build up, and also to ensure that there were no fractures. Once we had determined that there were no other injuries, and confirmed our diagnosis of balloon syndrome, over 250ml air was drained, using a syringe, from under the hedgehog's skin. He was given supportive care, including antibiotics and painkillers, and seemed much more comfortable almost immediately.

Hedgehog – Balloon syndrome

Unfortunately, within a couple of days, he started to develop respiratory signs – coughing and sneezing, with a thick nasal discharge. A faecal sample confirmed a heavy burden of lungworm, and he had also developed a secondary lung infection. A second course of antibiotics, daily nebulisation and anti-inflammatories were prescribed, and slowly but surely he began to improve, eat and gain weight.

He stayed with us for about 6 weeks, until he had returned to full strength and was at an appropriate release weight, and has now been released back where he was found.

It’s not known exactly what causes balloon syndrome, although traumatic injuries to the chest, and gas producing bacteria under the skin have all been proposed as possible causes.

We were thrilled to have been able to nurse this hedgehog through to release, and to have finally witnessed first hand, the mysterious balloon syndrome.

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Wildlife quiz

So to test your general animal knowledge here are 5 quiz questions.

Answers can be found in the cattery section:

1) How long can a snail sleep for: 6 months, 1 year, 2 years or 3

years?

2) How often does a healthy Hedgehogs heart beat per minute?

100, 200, 300, 400 or 500?

3) What do butterflies taste with? Nose, proboscis, feet or

antennae?

4) In 1895 24 rabbits were introduced to Australia. What was the

population 6 years later? 1 million, 3 million, 6 million or 10 million?

5) A shrimps heart is in its head, body, bottom or does it not have

one?

n order to raise awareness of animal welfare issues amongst our younger generations it is

important that we engage with all age groups about different animals, the challenges

affecting them and how we can reduce ‘Mans’ impact on them. The Education team have

recently launched an exciting new ‘Wildlife Champions Scheme’ where passionate young

ambassadors are taking centre stage and helping to deliver these key messages to their

peers, a scheme that we hope will catch on with other young keen wildlife enthusiasts.

Their role as Wildlife Champions is to:

• Promote the important role wildlife and their habitats play in our daily lives,

• Become roles model and advocate for environmental action in their areas,

• Become the young peoples' voice on wildlife and the environment in their schools and

communities.

Our Ambassadors are already enthusing other young people to become wildlife champions

in their own schools and within their local community. It is an excellent learning experience

and a fantastic opportunity for children to excel, take responsibility and gain knowledge and

skills that will benefit them in the future.

In addition the education team have started to deliver new animal welfare workshops in

primary schools throughout Staffordshire, Cheshire and Shropshire. Our curriculum linked

workshops benefit the students learning and allow us to deliver key animal welfare

messages.

We are keen to hear from you if you are a Primary teacher

and want your children’s learning to benefit from a visit by our

inspiring educators. Email: education-stapeley@rspca.org.uk or

call: Charlie on 07833 248352.

Future Champions in Primary Schools

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was another great year for the Stapeley Grange Fundraising Group. A big

thank you to Sam, Graham, Lynne, Rachel, Michelle, Brian, Tom, Alex &

Chrissy who make up the group and to all the additional volunteers who kindly donated

items and/or their time to our events last year.

The Christmas Fair, last November, was one of our main events in the calendar. It was a

fantastic day, despite the terrible wind and the rain!. Thank you to everyone who supported

the event and braved the weather to join us!

There were lovely homemade treats and drinks and we had lots of arts and crafts and local

stalls for everyone to enjoy. Santa made an appearance and enjoyed meeting all the good

boys and girls, including sweet Beau and mum Heather (pictured below). We made a total

of £1073.86 on the day, which will be used to buy equipment for the cattery and wildlife

hospital, as well as support our education and fundraising departments.

Events calendar 2016 - Our fundraising group has a busy year

ahead with lots of fun filled events planned. The first main event

is our Spring Fair on 19th March, which will be combined with a

car boot sale. There will be an Easter egg hunt and lots of crafts

for the kids to get involved in along with homemade refreshments

and local stalls, so something for everyone. If you are interested

in having a stall at our Easter Fair or joining our fundraising team

please email Samantha.taylor@rspca.org.uk

FUNDRAISING NEWS

o celebrate Style Counsels Hair Salon’s 25th Anniversary Caron Hull and her team decided

to do something worthwhile and to raise money for two very deserving charities. They

chose Stapeley Grange Wildlife Centre as one, after becoming involved with the Centre a

couple of years ago when we had to look after a couple of their cygnets from Queens Park in

Crewe. Caron and her team have been fundraising like demons over the last few months to

raise as much money as possible for their two chosen charities. To date they have raised

£1250, their latest event being a five mile walk.

“The people at the centre all do an amazing job and the funds we have raised will be buying

much needed equipment for the centre. Staff, clients and friends took part, 25 in total.

Everyone enjoyed it and hopefully it will raise awareness to the centres' importance.

Caron Hull (Style Council Hair Studio)

A ‘hairy’ walk in the windy weather fundraiser

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2015

Education Quiz - Answers: 1) 3 years, 2) 300, 3) Feet, 4) 6 million, and 5) Head

CATTERY NEWS

Bernard arrived at the RSPCA cattery a few months

ago. His owner had been admitted to hospital; Bernard

was not found until the house was cleared. He is a

youthful ten year old who appears aloof but has a liking

for a warm knee to sit on. At this time of his life too

many changes would not be to his liking so a home

without children is preferred.

Jester arrived at Stapeley via an inspector,

unfortunately, his previous owner had passed away

leaving 13 year old Jester longing to have the

individual attention and fuss of a kind owner, in a

nice quiet home. He will of course repay that

kindness ten times over.

Tilly, another black cat that is being overlooked for

younger and more colourful cats and kittens. Tilly

came to the RSPCA when her owner died. At eleven

years of age she is very loyal. In return for a home

without noisy children Tilly promises to give lots of

affection

Tilly

Bernard

Jester

nother tough year 2015 with adoption figures

down on the previous year’s total but the

team have worked hard to re-home as many cats

and kitten as possible. Facebook and Twitter

have been extremely useful in promoting the

cattery and promoting our long stay cats. Our

long stayers tend to have a similar profile, which

is older and black or black and white in colour;

they appear to be left behind with adopters opting

for younger and more colourful cats and kittens.

Our long stay cats always get special attention

though and our team make every effor to promote

A them with our visitors. We even put

them at the front of the cattery so that

visitor seem them first – we are hoping

for ‘love at first sight’ I suppose! We

wished it was that easy!!

Here are a few of our longer stayers

that we are hoping that can be found

loving homes sooner rather than later.

They all deserve that second chance.

“It’s not like the animals can ask for help themselves, so we thought we would do the asking. The response we got was amazing - our front room is now over run with donations and we have regular people making donations so we will be starting doing car boots every week. All money raised will go to Stapeley and for whatever they need. We have not been doing this long but we hope to be doing it for a long time to come and we are hoping to be able to go to stapeley and donate every 3 months. We have started our own page on facebook called the pet donation site https://www.facebook.com/groups/199212817087925/ More long term we are hoping to be able to donate to other animal charities.”

n Dec 2015 we received a call from Chris and Sue Greatbatch who were keen to support the Cattery and wildlife hospital with donations. Chris and Sue explained that they receive donations of items which they can then sell on ebay or through facebook. They were both keen to raise funds so that they could purchase items that were needed in both the cattery and wildlife hospital. “Myself and my wife Susan are absolutely loving it being able to help the animals in your care and to know that they are benefiting from the work we are doing. We were inspired by seeing other sites that were using facebook to bring donations for other charities that supported people. We could not find any sites that were offering support for animals. With it being Christmas, we thought it would be perfect timing to try and raise some money.

Stoke couple committed to Stapeley’s animals

Unfortunately Jason and Sooty’s owner

recently died. They are very lonely and

are desperate to find that new forever

home. They need to stay together and

even though they are not from the

same litter they are inseparable. Jason

(pictured far left) is eight and very shy

whilst Sooty is ten and a bit braver.

Can you offer them that forever loving

home?

Jason and Sooty

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