The Raccoons Move House

We are absolutely over the moon to announce that the Raccoons have moved out into their new home, and they love it! We are so very proud of this enclosure and we hope that you like it as much as we (and the raccoons) do too. It has taken months of hard work and a lot of kind donations to make it possible, but to see them so happy has made every day of work and each penny worth it!

Sophie and Fiona were seized from a private keeper by a Local Authority after being found in very poor conditions at a puppy farm. When we heard of their plight, we offered to foster them here at the sanctuary, and it soon became apparent that they were happy with us! They calmed right down and instantly bonded with some of our keepers. So rather than uproot them again, we decided to keep them here and give them the lives that they so deserve.

Following a crowdfunding campaign set up by one of our keepers and the very generous donations made by YOU, we were able to completely rebuild and re-purpose one of our old enclosures, to create this very happy home for them. We couldn’t have done this without the money that you helped us to raise, materials kindly donated, and the extremely hard work of John our maintenance manager!

Now for the first time in their lives, they can feel the sun on their backs, paddle in their own pool, climb, run, jump and play in what is our best accomplishment yet since we took on the mammoth task of trying to completely renovate this site. THANK YOU to all who have helped us, and we hope that you’ll come and see them soon!

Just some of the wonderful people who donated funding, materials and time to make our dream a reality - Chris Nock, Kym Pearce, Caroline Bell, Sian Westwood, Mitchell Payton, Katie Patrick, Carol Ravenhall, Jo Redhead, Helen Owen, Amy Taranaski, Zoe Westwood, Mike Davies, Eric Thompson, Annette Callear, Ann Parkes, Lydia Parker, Nicola Evill, Kieron Harper, Marie Cotton, Virginia Truslove, Lynn Grice, Vix Heyman, Rachel Gately, Claire Thompson, Steve Austin, Emma Powell (ThePunkyBunny), Laura Bulger (GreytFelties), Nick Powner (Rayton Electrical Wholesale Ltd), Carvers Building Supplies, Darlaston Builders Merchants, Asset Protection Team - West (Severn Trent), Selco Builders Warehouse, Dudley College Landbased Studies Students, and a number of anonymous supporters.

Little Grebe Release

We usually refer Wildlife cases to dedicated wildlife hospitals with the specialist knowledge and experience often needed for these animals, but when this Little Grebe was brought to us by a neighbour, we were very pleased to be able to help it ourselves! It had unfortunately been caught by a cat, but thankfully examination showed that it was not badly hurt.

We were then able to check whether it was able to perform all of the behaviours needed for release; such as swimming, catching it’s food, eating and preening. It passed with flying colours and so we were overjoyed to be able to find a suitable release site here.

We checked that it could swim properly and catch food in water.

We have several areas of the sanctuary that we have dedicated for the abundance of wildlife that visit or choose to live with us, and a large pond loved by various wild water birds, with lots of hiding/nesting spaces and food available.

The Grebe swam away slowly, then quickly dove underwater, zigzagging across the pond, catching tiny fishes and insects, popping up all over the place! A very happy little bird!

A big thank you to our kind neighbours for rescuing it and keeping it safe until we could take over.

Oh Deer!

OH DEER! We received a call yesterday about a deer caught between two fences at St. Chad’s Primary School here in Sedgley. The poor deer had somehow jumped in but because of the way the fence has been constructed there was absolutely no way of it getting back out again and was becoming very distressed and injuring itself. We’d like to say a massive heartfelt THANK YOU to the wonderful crew at Dudley Fire Station who after we thought we’d exhausted every avenue of help, were the absolute heroes that DID come through for us and did an excellent job with their quick thinking and teamwork, catching it up so that we could get it quickly to a wildlife hospital.

Not all heroes wear capes!

We discovered yesterday that there is not enough expertise and sanctuary in this area for wildlife, with most of the dedicated wildlife sanctuaries and hospitals too far to help us in the West Midlands. Saddened by this we’re looking into training and experience for our team so that when we are the last port of call as we were yesterday, that we have a better chance of providing our wild friends with the help that they need, at least until they can be transferred to a dedicated wildlife rehabilitation centre. This will cost money and precious time but we think that it’s something very worthwhile to raise funds for. What do you think?

We’d also like to say thank you to Cuan Wildlife Rescue for their advice and Vale Wildlife Hospital & Rehabilitation Centre who also did their very best to help us and stopped late at the hospital so that we could bring it in. You do a wonderful job.

What a team!