The Creature Comforter

Polly Pullar joins the Scottish SPCA’S senior animal rescue officer Ben Soutar racing around Tayside on a mission to ease the suffering of wildlife

TAYSIDE is vastly varied, from the rugged coastline of the east with its sweeping beaches, vertiginous sea cliffs and fishing ports, to its intensive agricultural lands – fruit, grain and livestock production, its winding salmon rivers, lush woodlands, wild glens and moorland, all set against a backdrop of equally varied mountain.

As the area’s Scottish SPCA senior animal rescue officer – covering the country between close to Stonehaven in the north-east to Callander in the south and Killin in the west – Ben Soutar racks up an astonishing number of miles each year. Calls can involve rescuing literally anything from a weasel to a whale. 