Ollie fox was found just after his birth by a
member of the public. Unfortunately she did not realise that vixens often
transfer their cubs between earths if the are disturbed, and may sometimes drop
one, but only temporarily. Ollie's mother would have come back for him, but,
with good intentions, the lady who found him took him home, intending to rear
him and keep him as a pet. Foxes do not make good pets, and this lady did not
have the necessary knowledge to rear Ollie - 48 hours later he was near death.
By the time she agreed to let him come to Wildlives, terrible damage had been
done.
He was severely dehydrated, and his whole body covered in burns from
an unshielded hot water bottle. |
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| He was also drenched in milk,
which made all his fur fall out. Happily for Ollie, he is now making brilliant
progress, and will soon be joining our other fox orphans - Molly, whose mother
did not return for her, and who was emaciated and covered in ticks, Echo, named
for his loud cries that reverberated around the centre on his arrival from the
seal and wildlife centre in Norfolk with a serious parasite infestation, and
Patches, who was caught in a fence and sustained massive blood loss. Patches is
currently unable to use his rear legs, which is hopefully tissue damage, but he
also has a fractured growth plate and nerve damage on a foreleg. As he is very
young, Wildlives hope that his youthful resilience will effect a recovery with
time. He was named for his two yellow eye patches. |
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| Primrose |
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Primrose, a tiny Muntjac fawn only
a day or so old, was found by some children in Colchester. The children picked
her up as she was convulsing constantly. A lady saw the problem, and brought
the deer to Wildlives.
With a temperature of 106F, she was rushed straight
to the vet for an IV drip. Despite both sedation and anaesthesia the
convulsions continued, and a battery of tests failed to find the cause. As it
was difficult to tell whether her temperature was causing the fits, or the fits
causing her temperature, she was treated with a wide spectrum of possible
causes. Eventually her temperature fell to a normal level and the fits stopped.
When Wildlives are absolutely certain she is recovered, she will be transferred
to the RSPCA hospital at East Wynch to be reared with another deer of her age.
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| Water Rail |
A water rail was brought to
Wildlives after having been found collapsed and taken to a local vet, and made
a rapid recovery.
As these are a very rare and elusive bird, she was rung
by Simon Cox of the British Trust for Ornithology before being released into an
ideal habitat for rails. A long eared bat arrived emaciated and with a heavy
mite infestation. It was fostered by Rachel Kilby and later successfully
released. The orphan room is now bulging with orphans of all shapes and sizes,
especially now that the fledgeling birds have started to arrive. |
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