Seal of approval...

Being one of the UK's largest wildlife rehabilitation hospitals, Stapeley takes in its fair share of Grey Seals from all over the North West. Whether they've been found beached or injured, the team here are always prepared to provide these guys with all of the care they need in order to recouperate enough to be released back into the wild.

Due to their strong bite potential (Google seal finger if you want to be grossed out), students have to be supervised when cleaning these guys out or feeding them. See below photo for a very ~marginally~ angry seal.

Despite their potential for a bad rep, they're usually pretty calm and are more than happy to just observe you with those huge eyes as you scrub their pool around them. Rarely in the centre for more than a couple of weeks, all seals pictured here have already been released back to the areas that they were found (After being confirmed healthy and ready of course!).

The most common reason for seal pups being bought into centres is that people mistakenly think they've been abandoned. If you see a seal pup alone that looks otherwise fit and healthy, and is showing no signs of distress, monitor it from a safe distance for 24 hours before calling it in.

If the mother does not return within 24 hours or the pup looks sick or injured, please call the RSPCA on 0300 1234 999.

Chelsie Hirons-Major
Student Placement
To support the ongoing work of the wildlife hospital, during this extremely difficult time, please donate to the Wildlife JustGiving site.

Foxy Business

Time to tell you all about one of the least popular jobs at the centre: cleaning out the fox runs.

Not a job for the faint-hearted, scrubbing these guys' pens is a gruelling 2 hour workout first thing in the morning. I'm very thankful for my facemask when it comes to this job...

There's no special technique for this one, it really is just a case of scrubbing with disinfectant and giving them a really good hose down. On the hotter days the cool spray from the hose is a welcome relief!

Sadly though, the harsh reality of Wildlife Rehabilitation is that it doesn't always work out and sometimes we have to make tough decisions. Our animals have to remain wild so our approcah to looking after the animals is always a 'hands off' one. Which is criticial, especially for our cheeky fox cubs who will be going back to the wild soon.

The Centre is getting busier by the day, as the summer goes on. The team at the centre has to put in more and more work to make sure that all the animals in care aretaken care of and prepared as best they can be for a return to the wild. This means increasing vet bills, food bills and staff workloads!

Please consider donating or volunteering some of your own time to helping out animals in need, I promise you, you won't regret it.

Chelsie Hirons-Major
Student Placement
To support the ongoing work of the wildlife hospital, during this extremely difficult time, please donate to the Wildlife JustGiving site.

This week at the centre was one of overall success for the animals on site. After the uncertainty of the Buzzards last week, it was nice to see hard-work paying off for the students in the form of releasing some of the hospital's inmates! The team had a hand in releasing lots of birds including a group of Herring and Lesser Black-Backed Gulls, and some Woodies that you can see us releasing on site in the videos below :)

This is Abby - one of our year-long placement students currently on site.

Chelsie and Sophie (above) are both short-term placement students, starting their final year of study at LJMU in September 2021.

During their time with us at the centre, Wood Pigeons receive an extra boost of vitamin D in their diets (usually in the form of tasty broccoli being chopped up and added to their seed) in order to support their bones for flight! Wood Pigeons are resident birds to the UK and can be seen all-year-round, easily identified by their pink/grey breasts.

Look out for our next post, coming Saturday!

Chelsie Hirons-Major

Student Placement

To support the ongoing work of the wildlife hospital, during this extremely difficult time, please donate to the Wildlife JustGiving site.