There is a Wildlife Crisis in East Sussex and our wildlife is suffering!Last night we received a call to this poor road casualty hedgehog just outside Haywards Heath, the couple contacted their two nearest out of hours vets in Haywards Heath and Uckfield and both would not deal with the hedgehog which was bleeding from an ear. One centre even told them to contact the RSPCA despite the RSPCA no longer being a 24 hours service.
East Sussex WRAS sent it's on-call ambulance from Eastbourne to Newick to attend the hedgehog out of desperation to get the hedgehogs some help. Whilst up in Newick dealing with the Hedgehog WRAS received a call about a road casualty fox in Eastbourne - sadly this passed away before our ambulance could return to Eastbourne.
Last night our out-of hours service also received calls about a road casualty deer near Tunbridge Wells which was referred to the Deer Warden Scheme along with numerous other calls but most of them were deferred to the morning as clearly not in need of urgent veterinary help.
We are currently only able to deal with emergency calls between 10pm and 9am where members of the public can't be expected to keep the casualty over night or take it to a local emergency veterinary practice. The reason we are not able to cover out of hours better than this is because the persons who work out of hours are the same people who work during the day, who work on a rota.
Last nights person started work at 8.30am Friday morning and did not get to bed till gone 3am this morning. This is not healthy nor sustainable. This is why East Sussex WRAS needs more funding and support.
We need a new, bigger and better Casualty Centre and funding to provide a better out of hours service and train up more medical staff. This would not be just to attend rescues out of hours but also so we have someone who can at least give advice over the phone and help calm and reassure people they are doing the right thing when they find a casualty in the middle of the night - rather than waking up an already exhausted member of staff.
This is the only way our wildlife will not be left to suffer.
With various centres either permanently close, temporarily close or working with greatly reduce capacity or limits in place a lot of pressure is now on East Sussex WRAS to pick up the pieces.
OUR WILDLIFE NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT!
Please help fund raise, organise a coffee morning, a cake safe, a sponsored walk, or donate to our Wildlife Crisis Appeal at:https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/eastsussexwildlifecrisis
YOU CAN HELP US MAKE A HUGE DIFFERENCE TO LOCAL WILDLIFE.
Reg Charity 1108880 Register with the Fundraising Regulator.
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