Help at hand for hurt and sick animals

By vivien levy vivien.levy@courier.co.uk

ANIMALS are Trevor Weeks' purpose in life.

For 25 years he has rescued all manner of injured wildlife, helped by other volunteers at the East Sussex Wildlife Rescue Service in Whitesmith, near Uckfield.

Twenty-two volunteers work cleaning out cages and feeding the animals during the week and another five or six do rescue work.

The Courier spent a day with Mr Weeks and his team as they answered some of the 2,500 calls for help they get each year from across East Sussex.

We arrived at our first call in Hammer Lane, Vines Cross.

Michelle Gardiner had just come home from attending to her horses when she spotted a hedgehog, which had been caught by a rat trap in a hedge.

She said: "I thought it was dead at first, he wasn't moving but when I went back he was breathing. He has eaten a little food."

Mr Weeks said the hedgehog had not been out of hibernation for very long: "There could be a fracture, head trauma, internal bleeding. He may not have any of that. It may just be bruising."

The hedgehog was taken back to the centre in Whitesmith where it received an injection of an antibiotic and painkiller and put in a cage to recover from his ordeal.

Mr Weeks was able to do this having certification from the vets, but the hedgehog will be seen by a vet and providing all is well will be released back into the wild.

Mr Weeks explained why he loves his job so much.

"My mum was a great animal lover. She passed away when I was 21. Being an animal rescuer and the memory of her gives me a purpose in life," he said.

"I never know what I am going to come across in the job.

"We can't respond to them all. We have to prioritise what we can attend. It's usually those we can't expect members of the public to handle themselves."

As we finished feeding some fox cubs puppy food there was an emergency call about a swan which had crash landed, hitting railings at Victoria Park in Eastbourne. Off we went.

The swan was in a bad way. It had a dislocated shoulder and damage to its pelvis.

After examining the bird, Mr Weeks made an immediate call to a swan sanctuary in Shepperton, which agreed to take it in.

A quick phone call to a volunteer to make the 90-minute hour journey and the swan was on its way.

Just as we were about to leave, Mr Weeks received a call from Chris and Sue Leighton from Polegate, who had been caring for a dove in their garden for five days and seemed unable to fly off.

Mr Weeks said a lot of injuries to animals occur internally. There could be fractures or internal bleeding which are invisible.

If there was something wrong with the wing it would be unlikely to heal after such a time and the bird may have to be put down.

Mr Leighton said: "We saw it walking across next door's drive.

"We tried to let him go when we found him but he wouldn't fly away. For five days we have fed and watered him."

The injury is unlikely to get better so the dove is booked into the vets.

He said: "Often people find animals with an injury and think it is going to die so they leave it.

"You wouldn't put a human through that so why do it to an animal?

"I have no problem with someone ringing up for advice as long as they follow it."