It’s a beautiful sunny Sunday and you decide to go out in your garden to do some work.
As you walk around a corner to your surprise you see an injured person laying on the grass. He can’t seem to communicate very well but it is obvious that something is not right.
Now, if this happened would you:
- Put him in your shed/garage/spare room with some food and water and then Google to see how best to treat what you think might be wrong with him? Or
- Email the doctors surgery to alert them that you have this injured person in your care and hope that they would get back to you before it is too late? Or
- Promptly contact your local doctor via phone or phone an ambulance as they are the experts and best equipt to deal with an injured person?
I think that pretty much everyone will pick response number 3. It makes sense right?
So why is it that we don’t when it comes to injured animals and birds?
Every week we get numerous emails and messages from people who have found something that is in need of help. The issue with this is that we are a small rescue when it comes to staff and as much as emails most of the time are checked daily, sometimes there is just not enough time to do so.
We also get several phone calls every week from people who have been amazing enough to see that an animal or bird is in need of help, but then simply gone to google to see how to treat it. More often than not this leads to unnecessary suffering as the information they use often comes from people who might mean well but are far from experts.
We have had hoglets fed milk, broken wings mended with wooden sticks and sellotape and baby birds shoved under a tap to make it drink water.
Now, I say this with the greatest respect and I hope that you guys know that we do appreciate that you care about our wildlife; In fact, we need more people like you in the world BUT!
Please leave the actual care of the animals and birds you find to experienced caregivers and rescue centers. They know what they are doing, just like we trust our doctors and nurses: trust us 🙂
xx Maria