Walk on the wild side - Wildlife Hospital has cared for more than 400 animals since opening

More than 400 animals have already been cared for at Ireland's first dedicated wildlife hospital which opened last February beside the Tara na Rí pub at Garlow Cross, outside Navan.

The aim of Wildlife Rehabilitation Ireland who set up the hospital is to save the lives of thousands of sick and orphaned wild animals in Ireland every year.

This week is a very exciting one at the centre as a squirrel, pine marten and otter will all be transferred to special 'soft release' areas, which will prepare them for their eventual release back into the wild.

Aoife McPartlin of WRI says the organsation has been inundated with calls since the start of the pandemic by people finding wildlife who are sick and injured.

"In 2020 as a result of Covid, we all experienced a new way of living. Lockdown meant we were out in nature more and noticing the animals around us," she says.

“Licensed rehabilitators around the country were reporting a significant increase in demand for the rehabilitation of hedgehogs, pigeons, foxes, buzzards and many other species.

"Rehabilitators were doing amazing work but the increase in reported injuries to wildlife means they were under severe pressure for space and funding, so we had to set up an emergency interim hospital to help alleviate that pressure", Aoife adds.

She explains that Wildlife Rehabilitation Ireland was founded in 2010 by Emma Higgs, a veterinary nurse who had set up the Irish Seal Sanctuary and realised the need for help for wildlife in general.

People were caring for animals in garden sheds - some of them were veterinary nurses and she wanted to ensure that care was standardised across the board.

She organised courses and people came over from England to give the tuition.

As the volunteers built up their knowledge, UCD invited them to talk to veterinary students about what they are doing.

The long term plan was to build a large scale hospital and Fingal County Council offered us a site at Donabate, but five years on, nothing had happened and their helpline was inundated last year.

“We had 6,000 calls from people about wildlife emergencies.

“We told Fingal County Council that we couldn't wait any longer and we got the opportunity to use these facilities at the back of Tara na Ri.”

Aoife explains that the McCarthy family who own the pub have plans for the site and the hospital will eventually move into the adjacent field where a purpose built hospital will be built.

“The bigger plan is to build a wildlife and teaching hospital with a visitor centre, but for now the facilities are great and include a spacious fully furnished three-bedroom apartment to house volunteers.

“The hospital is funded by donations and manned by wonderful volunteers.

“We had so many volunteers come and help us set up the hospital and we have had a lot of help from the local community.

“Since we opened we have taken in an incredible 410 animals.”

Aoife says the most important part of their work is enabling the rescued animals be released into the wild again.

“We keep interaction between humans and animals to a minimum. Some of the very young animals may have to be bottle fed but otherwise we keep well away from them and we have special soft release enclosures, where we monitor them from a distance and prepare them for going back into the wild.

“We collaborate with NUIG on release sites and it is often close to where they were rescued.

“We have volunteers all over the country and a network of transporters, first responders and fosterers as well as our volunteers on site.

“The charity relies on fund raising and sponsorship, but since opening the hospital they have received funding of 10,000 from Heritage Good Causes Awards and 20,000 from Ireland Environmental Network which allowed them to build a large waterfowl enclosure and two aviaries.”

If you come across injured or orphaned wildlife the first port of call is their helpline – 0818 877766 where volunteers will point them in the right direction.

“Sometimes the animals don't need rescuing, some young animals can be left alone by their parents for a while.

“Over the past while, we have had four fawns taken in and not one of them needed to be in our care. We fed them and kept them for 24 hours before they were released.

“Our advice is don't dive in, call us and stand in front of the animal and describe what you see.”

Aoife says that education is important and they will be bringing people in and getting them enthused about wildlife although they won't see too much of the animals because of the efforts to keep them wild.

“We also hope to go to the community to talk to schools and local groups.”

The aim of WRI is to provide sick, injured or orphaned wildlife the careful and skilled attention they need if they are to be rehabilitated and successfully reintegrated back to the wild and five months after opening they have certainly achieved their aim.