WILDLIFE SAVERS
Scottish SPCA rescue centre’s dedicated staff giving a furry tail ending to the sick and hurt creatures in their care
FROM the outside, you’d never guess the incredible cuteness and devotion that goes on behind the plain white walls of the humble facility in the shadow of the Ochil hills.
Only the odd bark from the seals and the call of a raven gives it away.
Tonight, the country is about to discover the incredible life and death drama that goes on inside the Scottish SPCA’s National Wildlife Rescue Centre in Alloa, where injured or orphaned wild animals from all over Scotland are brought for care, rehab and release.
From rare birds found on oil rigs to deers, one-eyed seals and endearing wee otters, the 13-strong team look after every wild animal found in Scotland, with the practical exceptions of whales and dolphins, and the biggest of the red deer stags.
Their work is showcased in new BBC Scotland series Born to Be Wild. Camera crews spent months following the staff and the animals, including the nightjar bird saved by roughnecks or the otter almost torn in half by a snare trap.
Manager Colin Seddon invited the Record inside the centre for a tour ahead of the series, which will give the public its first insight into the centre. It costs £700,000 to run and is funded by charitable donations to the SSPCA.
He said: “We are Scotland’s wildlife rescue centre and we don’t make enough of that – there are other centres which more localised but we are the only national centre.
“It’s one of those places that you wish you could show more people around but if you did that it would defeat the object of what we do.
“So it’s great that people will get the chance to see what happens – and for the staff.
“We have staff who have never been inside the otter building, for example, because they are wild animals and we can’t have too many people around them.
“We saw nearly 10,000 animals last year and of those we put back nearly 8000. That’s 8000 lives and 8000 animals that can potentially breed and help various species.”
Colin joined the Scottish SPCA in 2007, having helped establish wildlife rescue centres down south with the RSPCA. He designed the centre and has been the manager since it opened in 2012 – he lives on site and is effectively on call 24 hours a day to help out when an animal is brought in.
The staff saw 200 different species last year, and threequarters were birds. Their patient list also includes hedgehogs, seals, otters, hares, rabbits, mice and deer.
Most are abandoned or have problems stemming for natural causes. Some are in as a result of a human attack or trap. The series features the upsetting case of Drum the otter, who was terribly injured after being caught in a
snare. Colin said: “When it came in, we didn’t see a mark on it and it took a week for the wound to burst open – it was like it was cut in half.
“The vet cleaned it up and it was getting better and then the wounds broke down. It died under anaesthetic.
“It shows how indiscriminate snaring is, and how barbaric it is to use that as a way of catching animals – it is a horrendous way to do things in this day and age.”
Nicola Turnbull is head of section for small mammals.
She said: “I’ve worked here for four years, I started as a seasonal worker and fell in love with it.
“It’s usually nature that brings them in, but the snared otter was a really hard one. It’s just so awful and so different when it’s caused by humans.”
The facility sits on a 46-acre site and has several different buildings divided up between types of animals, while there is a large row of aviaries to cater for birds of all sizes – including Ragnar, the spectacular raven who was in situ when we visited – and outdoor pools for the seals.
Wildlife assistant Rebecca Reid loves caring for seals like Weasley, Nimbus, Hogsmeade and Severus – as well as the rest of the other Harry Potter-theme named patients.
She said: “This is the most rewarding job you could ever have. We watch them come in (as babies) in their white coats, build up their wounds and eventually watch them go to the outside pool and then release them. They are all different.
“Some are sweethearts and some are cheeky monkeys, but they all have amazing personalities.”
Everyone at the centre has different passions but they’ve all got an incredible love for the job. It’s common for them to take the tiny animals home for hand-rearing.
Wildlife assistant April Sorley said: “We’re excited about the TV show and it’ll be great for our friends and families, as most really don’t understand what we do and why you can’t come out one night, like, ‘What do you mean, hand-rearing?’
“It’ll be nice for people to understand more about it.”
April and section head of large mammals Sheelagh McAllister showed us two of the cutest and newest patients, 10-week-old otters Talla and Roy.
Orphaned Talla was found by a river near Hawick, Roxburghshire, while Roy was found similarly alone near Aberfoyle, Perthshire.
Sheelagh said: “They are very cute – we have them for up to a year and build them up to the stage where we’re happy to get them out to the wild and they are ready to go.
“In a few months, they’ll be very different. They get to the stage where they need space and get aggro at being contained. They tell you when they need to get out, we just give them what they need when they need it.”
She added: “People don’t always understand why they can’t come in and see the animals, so it’ll be nice for them to see the process. It’ll be good to show what we do from start to finish.”
● Born to be Wild is on BBC Scotland, tonight at 8pm. For information about the Scottish SPCA, visit scottish spca.org or call 03000 999 999.
It’ll be good to show what we do from start to finish SHEELAGH McALLISTER ON WORK AT THE CENTRE