Julie Bates

What it looks like when a Blue Tit flies straight at you! 😳😁😍🐦

Baby season is upon us and sadly, once again, these poor little animals are being kept by the finders instead of being brought into a rescue to get the life saving treatment they need. Yes they look cute, but they need an expert eye and experienced hands, not your curiosity. PLEASE NEVER KEEP ANY WILDLIFE YOU FIND. You aren't helping, you are just causing more suffering. Hedgehogs are delicate little animals with very special needs, and are all too easy to kill with enthusiasm and goodwill. Their very lives depend on you doing the right thing. Below are images of the same hoglet, taken 10 minutes apart. This baby and her siblings had been found crying, cold, and covered in fly eggs. The finder proudly told me he had removed the fly eggs, and my heart dropped. That delay, without warmth and fluids, could be fatal. Thankfully he then brought them in before trying to feed them (and likely killing them outright). The image on the left looks like a perfectly healthy little baby hedgehog, doesn't it? You'd never suspect anything was wrong. The video on the right was taken 10 minutes later, after I'd applied a substance that irritates maggots and makes them come out from where they have burrowed inside their victim. The substance is very toxic and must be very carefully and sparingly applied by a knowledgeable and experienced rescue. Although the finder had removed the fly eggs he could see, he had no idea there were eggs which had already hatched into maggots and had burrowed inside the poor baby's every orifice and tiny wound, out of sight. This is just one of the many, many reasons you must never keep any wild animal you find. They are not a DIY project, they are a precious little life that you can save, but only by doing the right thing. Baby Izzy here and Ryder, one of her brothers, survived, and were successfully raised by the lovely Prickle Lodge, where they both still happily live today. Tragically it was too late for her other brother. The delay in bringing them in meant he suffered more damage, and he died shortly after arriving here. Please put your own desires to one side and take any wildlife casualty you find straight to a rescue (never a vet). That's what rescuing an animal really means.🥰

Gorgeous posing Blue Tit. 😍 Taken recently at Combwich in Somerset. 😊🐦

Hi everyone please support our fundraiser details below. It’s to upgrade this part of our shelter and make it bigger and more comfortable for our wonderful dogs. 👍👍👍

Please NEVER feed a daytime wildlife casualty. I know, it's so hard not to. When we see a suffering animal we feel a strong, innate impulse to help, and a desire to provide immediate tangible comfort; equating food with survival and care. Feeding feels like a direct, immediate and nurturing action to alleviate suffering. Yet it is the most catastrophically harmful thing you could ever do. Especially hedgehogs out in the day, who will be hypothermic. It takes a lot of energy to digest food, energy these compromised animals just don't have spare. Every last bit of their energy is being used to maintain vital bodily functions - to keep the heart beating, to oxygenate the organs. Forcing energy away from these critical functions for something as non-critical as digesting food will be a death sentence. It won't be immediate, it may take hours, or a couple of days, but eventually, no matter what the experienced rescue you later take them to tries, the animal is already on the unstoppable journey into shock, aspiration, organ failure and death. So please help in the right way. An out in the day hedgehog needs *contact* warmth, a safe indoor space away from flies, and cover to reduce their stress (please see advice below). They are not going to die of starvation in the couple of hours between you finding them, and getting them to a rescue.😊 And please remember - any website that gives you DIY information on caring for or feeding injured or orphaned wildlife is, by default, wrong. The ONLY right action is to get them to a good rescue (never a vet) where their complex needs can be met. Even if you have seen this vital information before and understand it, feeding wildlife casualties is a powerful compulsion because it directly activates human instincts of empathy and compassion, often overriding the scientific advice against it. So please remember this warning and spread it as far as you can. Helping a wildlife casualty get to the expert treatment they need is an incredibly kind, altruistic act of great humanity. Just remember to provide them with what they need, not what you need.🥰

Watch this everyone... it's fantastic! 😍 Not seen a show like this since the classic Bill Oddie birdwatching shows of yesteryear! 😍🐦👏

When David’s 🦔loving finders saw him on their wildlife📷 ‘Out in the Day’, they knew he needed urgent help. But he’d been very difficult to rescue😩. This poor boy has a severe case of adult roundworms & has been a huge worry. But today I’m happy, the meds are doing their job🙏