A Close Shave ...
for a very lucky hedgehog!
Pumpkin’s Wildlife Hospital - Rickmansworth. I thought I would pay a visit having met the founder at the hedgehog conference in Denmark.
Ana Lapaz-Mendez is an unusual but very welcome member of the wildlife hospital world. Unusual because she bypasses one of the greatest obstacles these rescues face - and that is paying a vet to step in when needed. And she does that by being a vet herself!
I am always a bit awestruck by vets … when I was a kid I read all the James Herriot books and was determined to be a vet … until I discovered you had to be really good at exams to be a vet and I was, and remain, pretty useless!! So - I found another path to be connected to animals … traipsing around the countryside, counting, or stalking, hedgehogs!!
Pumpkin’s is hidden away - down a track which you have to weave along to avoid the potholes. Every now and then, when you are beginning to lose hope, there is a helpful sign, pointing you onwards!
At first sight it is unprepossessing - and as I write that I am reminded of the thought I had - ‘wouldn’t it be good to get a photo of the place’ … to which I answered, yes, but, I am already late for the next meeting … and off I went.
Behind the wooden doors, though, it was a hive of activity. Birds to the right of me - pigeons, blackbirds, gulls, and, behind netting to reduce the stress they might cause, a sparrow hawk, a couple of buzzards and two red kites.
To the left - well, to start with, people - reception - and beyond the gatekeeper, great busy-ness as Ana and another member of staff are dealing with a fox that had just been brought in … I was taken to the staff room and settled in for a cup of tea (and more nosing around!)
I have VERY mixed (and quite contradictory) feelings about zoos. While I worry about the welfare, there is no denying that I get a great deal out of being close to wild animals.
Pumpkin’s - like most wildlife hospitals, is NOT open to the public to go snooping around, so I recognise the privilege I have in these moments. And they do NOT - like all reputable rescues - take their patients around to events as fund-raising gimmicks.
Ana joined me, and we returned for more tea and what I had come for - a chat about a vision of the future. What I find quite inspirational is her desire to be made redundant! If we treated the natural world with the respect that it is due, there would be little need for wildlife hospitals. Most of the problems with which the animals suffer can be linked back to human activity - through destruction of habitats and food sources, to direct injury from carelessness.
Obviously Ana is going to be working at the hospital for a long time yet as there is no evidence of a dramatic shift in the right direction (despite the election of Hannah Spencer …)
I am not sure how she manages to get so much done … running a veterinary practice is not an easy job … but she does that as well as running Pumpkin’s … oh, and back to the vision … what Ana would like is land … the hospital is in a gorgeous place, right next to the River Chess - but it is not hers … she would like to be able to offer more than just fixing wildlife - she would like to have educational and training facilities, and enough wild space that nature is able to make itself a home around the hospital.
Normally this sort of fantasy would be met with a slightly condescending smile - but not in the face of Ana’s determination. If anyone can get this done, she can!
Meeting some of her patients (I should make it clear, there is a whole team of amazing people working with her to make this hospital function) was a reminder of how much needs to be done.
The hedgehog, for example, really did have a close shave - as the patch of spines cut short on the top of its head clearly show. The reasons it remains in care is because there is also a bunch of tar-like paint sticking spines together and reaching down to the skin. This is being painstakingly and carefully removed.
The crow just looked at me and reminded me of how intelligent these birds are - there is a sense of knowing in that gaze. There were so many pigeons … a cage of starlings - most nearly ready for release, but one with a foot that had been broken and then healed badly finds it very hard to walk … and much of their feeding is done on the ground. That might have to go to a sanctuary.
But it was the foxes that really got to me - as those of you who read my recent post on here will know, I am rather fond of these animals.
There were cubs, squabbling over meat, and adults, mostly convalescing - some from injury, some from accidents - but all with a hope for a future back in the wild.
The day before, I had been at the memorial of a young friend who had taken their own life - he was a poet - and this line of his - really struck me as summing up well the work done here and is also a lesson to us all - something we should aspire to …
‘Grow your heart to the size of the world.’
It is a risky business, falling in love - with people, with animals, with the world - but we have to take the chance - we cannot afford to give up.
Such great work they've done to help wildlife we should all be looking out for wildlife leaving out food and water.
What a lovely story about a lovely institution caring for wildlife!
I too read every book by James Herriott, loved every word!