The future of Animaline,
and the move
Our moving plans started many months ago. It was a logistical nightmare. Before even contemplating on where we would be going we had to consider the future wellbeing of all the wild birds and animals who have depended on us for food over the years, and will remain at the sanctuary. If we were to just move, these birds may have struggled to survive without the daily food source that they had been used to.
Over the past 9 months we gradually reduced the amount of food put out and slowly but surely they began fending for themselves and found their own natural foods. It was sad to see the numbers of wild birds, ducks, and geese that once covered our yard decrease, but we knew we had to do this in order to ensure they would survive when we had gone.
Over the years, Carla’s Manor became the roost for over 400 pigeons. It was a joy to see these birds flying en masse over the sanctuary when it was feeding time, but it was apparent that no-one would want to move into the manor with 400 pigeons ‘squatting’ on the roof. We had to take on the mammoth and almost impossible task of trying to catch these birds!
Catching one pigeon with a damaged wing is hard enough, but to catch 400 healthy birds was a huge challenge, but we did it! We had to change the whole dynamics or way in which we fed the birds in the sanctuary. When there was no other food available to the pigeons, we were able to control where and when we fed them. We gradually moved their food closer and closer to our big barn. Once they were feeding confidently inside the barn we were able to shut the doors and catch them with ease. They now all live in the skies above the Retreat Animal Sanctuary in Kent, and return to an aviary each night to roost.
Our next nightmare is to find somewhere suitable to move to! We want to stay in the local area where we are known.
We are now temporarily renting a property where we continue to respond to animal call outs and nurse the sick and injured wildlife.
Our fundraising and search for the perfect sanctuary setting will continue.
If anyone can help us in any way we would love to hear from you... HELP!
The Cows
Although sad to say goodbye, we found a fantastic home for our 44 bullocks.
Since the day they arrived with us at just five days old almost 10 years ago, we have loved them, The financial cost of £2,000 per month was draining us and ipacting on the things we could do for the many other hundreds of creatures that came to us needing help. The total cost of them for the years they were with us was in excess of £240,000.00 (excluding vet bills!) For the future of Animaline we had to be sensible and let them go.
Their new home was to be in luscious green fields in a beautiful Welsh valley.
Organising their move was a lot harder than we thought and cost over
£7,000.00 Four transporters were needed as opposed to three, as our cows are so much bigger than normal. Herds do not usually live long enough to reach full size and maturity. The transporter men where amazed, they had never seen such enormous but gentle beasts.
We were worried about the long journey but they all coped extremely well and were not fazed in any way.
The steers were greeted by an enormous and luxurious straw filled barn
surrounded by green fields with grass up to their knees. We knew they
would be safe and happy. What more could these old boys wish for?
We are in regular contact and know how well they are all doing.
Thank you so much Lesley, for the love and devotion you are giving our old boys.
RECENT ARRIVALS
‘Alan’ Southern Painted Terrapin
Alan was found wandering up a busy High Street! He was suffering with an enormous ear abscess which is very common in turtles and tortoise and, if left untreated, could be fatal.
Our fantastic vet Alan Jones soon had the infection under control and ‘Alan the Terrapin’ is now well and pain free. Many creatures of this type are ‘dumped’ when they quickly outgrow tanks and become difficult to keep.
Oink Oink …. Here come the girls
We had no idea what we would be letting ourselves in for when we said to Lesley “If we can help you in anyway as you have so kindly taken our cattle it would be our pleasure...". Then we got the call! Two piggies needed urgent homing as their owner had suffered a heart attack. No problem, we could help?
We trekked up to Wales imagining how nice it would be to have two little piggies wandering our sanctuary. First we met Lil, oh my gosh! She was enormous and not the ‘little’ variety we had imagined! Imagine our faces when we found that Lil was the small one and in the pen next door we were greeted by a grunting sofa called ‘Wiggie’.
She was the biggest pig we had ever seen. After the initial shock of thinking “Carla’s going to kill us!” We squeezed these beautiful girls into our trailer. They have since been re-homed and have settled well and are adored by all who see them.
RTA (road traffic accidents) – A common Dilemma for Owls
A Little Owl, ‘Stuart’ as we named him, was found by a member of the public on a roadside. His legs were completely paralyzed indicating spinal damage, but his eyes were bright and so treatment began. We knew it would be a long and slow recovery as all spinal injuries are. We had to hand feed him and began physiotherapy.
As the weeks went by he was making fantastic progress and by week five he was standing independently. We continued hand feeding him until we were sure that his legs and talons were strong enough to grip food.
It was a joy to put him out into an aviary where we saw him go from strength to strength and finally, after three months, we returned one dusky evening to the area he was found and released him. Time really is a great healer
Cyril the Squirrel
Lucky Cyril also survived being hit by a car. He was completely unconscious when he arrived and we were certain he would not survive the night but, as with everything, we treated him for shock and made him comfortable in a heated hospital cage. We were amazed that although disorientated, he was on his feet the next morning. Again, time was the best healer and although he went from strength to strength, we knew there was some permanent brain damage. For a start, he seemed to love our attention where normally an injured squirrel would show aggression brought on by fear. Cyril is now a permanent resident here and lives happily in an adapted aviary with Cecil another squirrel who is blind. It upsets us greatly that these creatures are classed as vermin. They really are truly fantastic little creatures who deserve to live on this planet as much as we do.
Discrimination
We see it all too often that when an animal isn’t quite perfect it is unwanted. 'Howie' was no more than five weeks old when he arrived. He was ‘found’ in someone’s garden. It was immediately apparent that Howie had a severely deformed back leg that stuck out at a right angles and we wonder whether this was the reason that he was abandoned. To our and the vet's amazement as he grew and developed, this leg corrected itself perfectly. He now lives with his girlfriend ‘Lola’ who was left in a shed when her owners moved home without her. .
Water birds & Fishing Tackle don’t mix
We have seen many horrific injuries caused by fishing wire, hooks and lead weights left by fishermen. Our most recent was a Moorhen. He was severely malnourished and had obviously struggled and suffered for quite some time being tangled in line. It took an hour to remove all the line, some of which had embedded itself into his body and was beginning to get infected. Following a course of antibiotics and lots of TLC, we were able to return him to the wild. If you are a fisherman please think of the dire consequences that can occur if you leave your line, hooks and weights behind. Thank you.
‘Wallace’
Wallace is a 25-year-old horse who has been with Animaline for nearly a year. The owners were broken hearted to part with him but their
circumstances had changed and they could no longer keep him. Wallace suffers with narcolepsy, a condition where if he is too relaxed he will just collapse into a deep sleep. Being aware of this we have to ensure that there will always be a soft landing. Not always easy!
The ‘cruelty’ of country life
Moses is a rescued collie who now resides with Liz amongst her pack of other waifs and strays. He has a wonderful life roaming the sanctuary each day and, each evening when the sanctuary is still, Liz and her gang venture out for long walks in the surrounding woods and meadows. One evening during their walk Moses vanished. After what felt like hours he was seen standing 'statue like' in the undergrowth. Despite being called he didn’t move.
Liz was horrified to find that he had been caught in a snare trap. The noose was so tight around his neck that he was beginning to struggle for air. Being a domestic pet and being reassured by Liz he, unlike a wild creature, remained still and didn’t panic, thus enabling Liz to remove the ‘killer’ wire.
Fortunately, there was no serious injury and although in shock the walk
continued. It is disgusting that such traps are still being used.
We love a happy ending
An emergency call came in that a young fallow fawn was caught in fencing. We arrived to find him literally strung up. Through his panicking he had made the situation worse. The wire was repeatedly wrapped round his leg and had cut into his flesh and the flies had already begun to lay their eggs.
We had to act fast to release him to prevent more damage being done. He
was obviously frantic at us approaching him. We managed to cover his eyes which calmed him enough for us to remove the barbed wire. The wounds were thankfully superficial and we were able to clean and treat the wound on site, and administered a long acting anti-biotic to fight any infection. The best we could do now was to release him immediately back to his herd.
Your support as always is truly appreciated. If you send a donation to Animaline, please remember to include your name, address and email address as we like to acknowledge and thank you all for your donations.
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