A wildlife rescue centre in Kildare is calling for the creation of a nationwide service, with multi-annual funding to enhance the country’s biodiversity.
Kildare Wildlife Rescue (KWR) opened four years ago and is heavily reliant on volunteers and donations for its conservation work.
Last year, KWR responded to 13,000 calls for help from the public. Of those, 9,000 required additional action and of those, around 5,000 animals were released back into the wild.
Wildlife first responder with KWR, Pearse Stokes, told RTÉ’s This Week that rescuing and rehabilitating wildlife is a key element in conserving Ireland’s wildlife.
“Ireland is in a biodiversity crisis and we don’t have the luxury of fixing our species problems with just national parks.
“We need hands-on rehabilitation and Kildare Wildlife Rescue puts 5,000 individual animals back into the wild every year.”
He added if there were more centres like KWR that would have a huge impact on the country’s biodiversity.
Rescuing animals in distress
During peak season, up to 100 cases could be coming through to the KWR help desk per day.
Approximately 80 of those would need care and the majority (around 50) are dropped into KWR centre by members of the public.
“The other 30 cases might require the first response network and goes out there and picks up those animals and gets them into care,” Mr Stokes explained.
May is the beginning of the centre’s busy season. KWR is taking care of around 200 animals now but at the peak in July, there could be as many as 700 wild animals in the centre.
On a shift with Mr Stokes, six birds and one fox cub were collected and brought to Kildare Wildlife Rescue (KWR). One bird was found dead on arrival, and another had died before Mr Stokes arrived.
When someone sees a wild animal in danger or distress, they can contact Kildare Wildlife Rescue via email. The charity has a team of volunteers who run a helpdesk who will ring the person and ask for more information about the health and location of the animal including asking the person to take photos and videos.
Mr Stokes described it as a “game changer” for KWR because it allows rescuers to prioritise cases and get a sense of the type of help the animal needs.
The people who called in an animal in distress were very pleased to tell RTÉ at the prompt response they received from KWR.
On our way to the fox cub that was trapped and abandoned in a front garden in south Dublin, Mr Stokes explained the cub took priority as most of the birds were already contained in boxes and just waiting for transport.
“This fox is still in the front garden, potentially going to be getting sicker, could be poisoned, could escape. So, while the chance is there to get a look at it and get our hands on it potentially, I want to take it.”
If it turned out that the fox was healthy and could be returned to its mother, Mr Stokes would prefer that option rather than bringing the cub to KWR.
After rescuing the cub, Mr Stokes was unable to find the mother but said he might try again at nighttime to reunite the pair. If not, the cub will spend about two months with KWR until it is released.
It is a condition of KWR’s wildlife license that after the animals are rehabilitated, they go back to where they came from.
Mr Stokes acknowledges that certain animal species have a higher conservation value than others and that influences how quickly cases are responded to, but KWR aims to respond to ever animal that needs care.
“There’s a lot of expertise when it comes to pigeons in Kildare Wildlife Rescue. It’s not the important work from a conservation point of view but if you’re not spending years catching and rehabbing pigeons, you’re not going to be able to catch and rehab a curlew when the time comes,” he explained.
Relatively common animals including many gull species have seen their populations plummet in the last two decades.
60% of the animals taken in by the centre last year were on the amber or red species conservation list.
Triaging wild animals
The fox cub rescued from south Dublin gets triaged in less than half an hour after it arrives in KWR. Each animal is given a unique identification number that follows them through their time at KWR and a grading which prioritises how quickly the vet will see them.
To avoid the risk of domesticating the wild animals, volunteers don’t speak to the animals and touch them for as little time as possible.
As well as a triage room and vet examination room, the KWR centre also has rooms for mammals, birds and baby birds as well as outdoor spaces for animals to rewild them and a specialist area for cleaning oiled birds.
Katerini Vathi, is the only fulltime wildlife vet in Ireland. She got the job about six weeks ago but has been working part-time and volunteering with KWR for four years.
“I would see an average of about 30 animals a day and that’s not necessarily including rechecks or hospitalized patients,” Dr Vathi, said.
The most common animals she sees are swans, pigeons, hedgehogs and foxes. However other animals in the centre that day included mammals (pine martin cubs and badgers) and many bird species including a red kite, a kestrel, buzzards, starling chicks, dunnocks and thrushes.
Dr Vathi says she has only seen two frogs in her four years at the centre.
In her examination room at KWR, Dr Vathi had two swans post-surgery, one of which had been hit by a car and had a complete fracture of its radius and ulna.
“Because the location of the fracture is OK, we’re hoping to manage it with supportive care,” Dr Vathi explained that she is hopeful the swan will be able to return to the wild in around 10 days.
The kind of treatment the animal receives depends on what happened to them. All birds that have been attacked by cats need antibiotic care. Hedgehogs that are in distress after waking from hibernation are usually under-weight and hypoglycaemic. Bone fractures may require surgery. Baby birds that fall out of nests need round the clock feeding.
“The caseload is huge,” Dr Vathi said, estimating that she is able to save just under half of the animals she sees. KWR is not a sanctuary for wild animals, they only intervene where they believe a life can be saved.
“This is where, I suppose, wildlife veterinary can be difficult, because the survival of an animal is not based on a condition that, theoretically it can live with – it’s can it survive the wild?”
“So, we make decisions based on their survival chances.”
Calls for increased funding
Dr Vathi said she is often asked why not simply leave wildlife to the wild and allow nature to take its course.
“What most people don’t understand is what I’m trying to do here is correct the mistakes that we have made as people, either directly or indirectly.
“At the moment, there’s a few birds and triage that are covered in cooking oil – This isn’t something that nature did.”
“This is something that we did.”
“We need more vets to be doing this, and we need more funding to be able to have more staff to do this,” Dr Vathis said.
“150 animals in a week are an unreal number and obviously I am just one person looking after the hospitalised animals, the animals in the centre.
The Seanad Cross-Party Group of Labour, Green Party and Social Democrats brought a Motion before the Seanad two weeks ago for a Wildlife Rehabilitation Support Scheme.
Minister of State for biodiversity, Christopher O’Sullivan supported the motion and said he intends to work towards advancing supports for wildlife rehabilitation in this country.