Feathers fly over beastly animals

Published on Saturday 20 June 2009 19:42

THE perpetrators are unlikely to do bird or even be hauled in front of the beak.

But a sudden and inexplicable upsurge in animal-on-animal violence has left welfare officers struggling to cope.

Scotland's national animal welfare centre has been inundated with record numbers of wounded creatures in recent weeks.

And the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA) confirmed that many of their patients have come off worse in violent inter-species confrontations.

Among the victims the welfare group is currently caring for are:

&#149 A pair of tawny owl chicks who were "mugged" by larger birds who pulled them from their nest and left them for dead, buried under woodland debris.

&#149 An eagle owl which came of worst in a skirmish with a group of crows.

&#149 A baby stoat which was abandoned when its mother was confronted by a dog.

The SSPCA Wildlife Rescue Centre in Dunfermline, Fife is currently caring for around 300 casualties. Manager Colin Seddon said staff were working round the clock to cope with the unprecedented influx.

He said: "We are currently taking in more animals than we ever have in the past.

"We are already about 20 per cent up in terms of admissions compared to this time last year.

"Sadly, one of the biggest problems that we face is caring for animals who have been attacked by other animals.

"The bulk of injuries that we have been dealing with are birds that have been attacked by domestic cats or crows and gulls."

Seddon sited the case of the two young tawny owls who were found close to death in a Fife forest.

He said: "A group of jackdaws took over their nest and basically turfed the owls out.

"We hand fed them when they first arrived and have now moved them into the aviary where are giving them space to develop and become independent. They are now feeding themselves and hopefully they will be ready to return to the wild soon."

In a similar case an adult eagle owl was seriously injured after escaping from a falconry centre near Gleneagles.

He said: "Basically it got mobbed by crows because they saw it as a predator and a threat.

"The crows grouped together and attacked the owl, but thankfully it has now recovered very well."

The centre is also caring for an abandoned stoat which was found on a path near Carnoustie.

Seddon said: "The mother was carrying the tiny baby in her mouth along a country track when she saw a dog, took fright, dropped her youngster and fled.

"The dog's owner waited and watched from a distance, but after an hour the mother didn't return so she called our helpline.

"He is coming on leaps and bounds. We hand-fed him every two hours until he was weaned and now he is given fresh food three times a day.

"He is kept warm in one of our incubators, which we use for very young mammals that would normally be kept cosy by their mum or litter mates."

Of course, by no means all the casualties are caused by other animals. Another patient, a young red squirrel named Aussie, was rescued after falling from a tree in Laurencekirk, Kincardineshire.

The centre is also looking after two pine martens, 22 baby pigeons which found dumped in a plastic container on a Clackmannanshire door step, as well as dozens of ducklings which have been separated from their mothers.

A SSPCA spokeswoman said their staff were doing a remarkable jobin trying circumstances.

She said: "They work round the clock and the success rate that they have is phenomenal.

"Every year they save hundreds of animals that would otherwise would have died."