Arnie is a new addition to the rescue dogs at Wildlives. He came from a place in Cornwall that deal with what are basically 'death row' dogs - either impossible to home or cases of severe cruelty. Arnie is probably about eight years old and until a week ago had never been taken outside, walked or shown any affection.

He has dreadful skin, poor teeth and muscle wastage and was terrified of any human contact. He has immediately responded to the attention from Rosie and the volunteers and all he wants to do is please everyone. Arnie is now thriving on a new found love of exercise and is getting better by the day. He was brought to the centre in a relay from Cornwall by the Animal Aid Transporters which involved eight different lifts!

If you are thinking of getting a dog, just remember that there are tens of thousands out there that need rehoming. Many are cross breeds, but there are also pedigree dogs needing homes too and young puppies. Below is the website link for the place that looked after Arnie - they rehome all over England. Links page

The RSPCA got a call a few months ago concerning a gentleman that was chasing a crow down a road with a spade! When the inspector arrived, the crow immediately landed on her shoulder and as she opened the carrier cage, jumped straight in. Charlie, as she has become known, was brought to Wildlives and put in with a number of juvenile corvids (crows, jackdaws, magpies and rooks) in the hope that being with her own kind she would begin to behave like a crow.

She had clearly been hand reared and having then been released had sought human contact as this is all she had known. Unfortunately, the plan did not work because, as Rosie later discovered, once a corvid has been imprinted, there is no going back. Charlie's story has a surprising ending though. Another Charlie - Charlie Hamilton Jones, a wildlife camera man, and his wife, TV presenter Philippa Forrester, happened to be looking for a corvid for their son. So, Charlie is now going to a lovely new home and a gentleman by the name of Lloyd Buck, who trains birds for films, is going to spend some time with their son and Charlie and train them both how to interact with one another.

The centre has had numerous bird admissions over the past few weeks - turtle doves, swans and cygnets, birds of prey, a juvenile cormorant and a teal, to name but a few. As usual a number have been the victim of cat attacks. Turtle doves used to be a common British bird, but their numbers are now down by 98%. The centre did manage to release both that came for treatment.

Bonfire piles are a favourite nesting place for hedgehogs - move the bonfire just before lighting to avoid burning any unexpected visitors.