Wild Injured Buzzard & Charities

[WagClarke]

Is it just me or are a lot of the charities unhelpful when members of the public find injured raptors?

I have just picked up a buzzard from a lady who found it on sunday and have phoned repeatedly lots of charities locally, including two which specialize in birds of prey.

To date she has had no reply, no advice and no one has been to take the bird for treatment. So, I have just driven quite a long way, picked up the bird, taken it to my bird vet, paid for it's treatment and it is now housed a spare aviary at my house.

I know some members of this forum have strong feelings about buzzards but the situation would have been the same had it been a kestrel, red kite or peregrine (or would it?).

At the end of the day these charities had left this lady, who has no experience of birds of prey, to care for an injured bird, and since it wasn't eating the white mice she was feeding it, I think they had probably consigned it to death by starvation! (It has eaten 2 doc since it came home)

Has anyone else had the same experience?

[Gordie]

the problem is there is enough buzzards going about now,if it,s not fit enough to go back to the wild they just put the hawk to sleep(fact)

[WagClarke]

That's most definitely what will happen if it doesn't make a full recovery but as I said in my post the subject wasn't the buzzard but the fact that charities are not responsive to members of the public regardless of the species that have been found

[Gordie]

That's most definitely what will happen if it doesn't make a full recovery but as I said in my post the subject wasn't the buzzard but the fact that charities are not responsive to members of the public regardless of the species that have been found

money i think thats the main problem.the expence it would cost them.

[Dave G]

couldnt you hold it till its recovered then release it back into the wild ???

[FlameHairedFalconer]

Regardless of charitable help available, if a member of public finds any injured wildlife they should take it to a vet, most will treat wildlife for free in any event. She was lucky it wasnt an injured peregrine or she would have potentially fallen foul of the W&CA 1981 by failing to do so.

Ignorance of the law is no defence.

[Gordie]

Regardless of charitable help available, if a member of public finds any injured wildlife they should take it to a vet, most will treat wildlife for free in any event. She was lucky it wasnt an injured peregrine or she would have potentially fallen foul of the W&CA 1981 by failing to do so.

Ignorance of the law is no defence.

sorry to disagree with you but i have had to pay out a lot of money to get a hawk back to some kind of fitness,ive had some heated arguments with the rspca/rspb over wild hawks.

[FlameHairedFalconer]

sorry to disagree with you but i have had to pay out a lot of money to get a hawk back to some kind of fitness,ive had some heated arguments with the rspca/rspb over wild hawks.

Not sure what you are disagreeing with here? That vets will often treat wildlife for free? This may not be the case with all vets I am sure, but you should not withhold treatment from an animal on this basis.

[Gordie]

Not sure what you are disagreeing with here? That vets will often treat wildlife for free? This may not be the case with all vets I am sure, but you should not withhold treatment from an animal on this basis.

disagreeing with the free bit from the vets,and that is why am out of pocket when i get an injured hawk handed in,get them fixed then pass them on.
The vets must be better off down your way than the vets up my way lol.

[Talon]

most vets wouldnt give a door a bang, unless they were getting paid for it.

fact

i now this from personal exsperiance, and other people who have had.
the same problem when trying to get a wild injured bop seen to.(treated for free )
by differant vets.

[HallBeck]

most vets wouldnt give a door a bang,unless they were getting paid for it.

fact

I think you will find that thats an opinion rather than a fact.

[WagClarke]

I don't know if I confused everyone but the point that I was making was not about the vet (he treated her and refused point blank to take any payment for it) but the charities - all of which said they would get back to her or would send someone out for the bird. Over a period of 5 days this lady called 4 different charities (2 or which specialize in birds of prey) and NONE of them helped her.

With regard to the finance part of it - ALL of the charities rattle their tins at local events etc - so what DO they do with the money?

[Skylark]

I had a phone call from a vet this week saying they had a kestrel in and would I take it and look after it.
On arriving a nurse brought bird out in a box you could have put an eagle in. Asked what was the injury to bird and they said he was holding a wing slightly and could not fly any sense. I asked had it been x rayed and they said no, as they didnt have the equipment or somthing and who was going to pay for it, I said god its a wild animal I am going to look after it and feed it for free. They looked down their noses at me which wound me up. Put the little chap in my box and while doing so I said I had better let a proper vet have a look and believe it or not they said well I suppose we could have put it to sleep. (ba...ards)
One vet only in it to fleece the small animal customers obviously. By the time I have spread the word they will not have so many.
I help several vets in my area and most are brilliant in their care of wild BOP so they are not all the same.
Anyway little chap has bruising to a wing joint and just needs rest and hopfully he will be ok. Since yesterday has eaten on his own 3 DOC and 1 Mouse.

[Skylark]

I don't know if I confused everyone but the point that I was making was not about the vet (he treated her and refused point blank to take any payment for it) but the charities - all of which said they would get back to her or would send someone out for the bird. Over a period of 5 days this lady called 4 different charities (2 or which specialize in birds of prey) and NONE of them helped her.

With regard to the finance part of it - ALL of the charities rattle their tins at local events etc - so what DO they do with the money?

They will tell you costs etc

[As The Falcon Her Bells]

A lot of vets treats wildlife for free, unfortenatly most specialised avian vets dont, this means the bird still dont get the correct care in many cases.

Some big charitys will only take care of an animal if it brings big head lines (a peregrine injured from an illigal trap will be on the front page and charitys would fight over it, while an naturally injured buzzer would never even be cocidered...)

[Mark23576]

thing with charitys only about 10% of money donated actually makes it to help. the rest is swallowed up by the people running it not how it should be but corruption is every were im afraid

[HallBeck]

thing with charitys only about 10% of money donated actually makes it to help. the rest is swallowed up by the people running it not how it should be but corruption is every were im afraid

I think maybe you need to come up with some figures to prove this wildly inaccurate and potentially libelous statement.

[David9999]

thing with charitys only about 10% of money donated actually makes it to help. the rest is swallowed up by the people running it not how it should be but corruption is every were im afraid

Care to prove the statements you made?

From a charity point of view I run one (based in the South of Ireland), have audited accounts, can explain my costs, can explain where my grants and donations come from and more importantly how I spent it. I made a loss of €12,600.00 last year and €11,287.00 (in 2007) all out of my own pocket.

in 2008 I rescued/recovered/recieved 61 various birds, 42 made it back to the wild. I had 131 phone calls from Joe Public and helped 22 of them rehab birds back to freedom.

I can back my figures up, can you? if not please do not make inaccurate statements that may impact some of our motivation to spend and help our wild birds.

Just for my info, when did you last help get a bird back to the wild and how much did it cost?
David

[Gordie]

I think maybe you need to come up with some figures to prove this wildly inaccurate and potentially libelous statement.

a skipper of a fishing boat told me he used to give a lot of money to a certain charity untill he found out how much went to the cause,out of every £1.00 13 pence went to the cause(that came from the head office when he was down south on hollidays)from that day he stopped giving money to that charity,and beleive me he gave a lot of money to that charity.

[HallBeck]

a skipper of a fishing boat told me he used to give a lot of money to a certain charity untill he found out how much went to the cause,out of every £1.00 13 pence went to the cause(that came from the head office when he was down south on hollidays)from that day he stopped giving money to that charity,and beleive me he gave a lot of money to that charity.

Which charity - the Charity Commission will confirm the figures. Charities are a bit like ltd companies - their accounts are in the public realm and can be inspected by anyone.

[Gordie]

Which charity - the Charity Commission will confirm the figures. Charities are a bit like ltd companies - their accounts are in the public realm and can be inspected by anyone.

thats why he knows the figurs, he was at the head office,i dont want to say the name of the charity but think about it(fishing boat, sea.)

[HallBeck]

thats why he knows the figurs, he was at the head office,i dont want to say the name of the charity but think about it(fishing boat, sea.)

If its the RNLI you refer to - then their 2007 accounts show that just 15p in the £ goes on fundraising and communications.

[Gordie]

If its the RNLI you refer to - then their 2007 accounts show that just 15p in the £ goes on fundraising and communications.

so that means 85p goes towards the addmistration and 15p towards the cauce?.I dont know if anybody out there can tell me if this is right or no,was the rspca not started with two hunts woman from london area,for retirring huntting dogs if so what a change in thoughts.just thought i would throw that in as well.

[HallBeck]

so that means 85p goes towards the addmistration and 15p towards the cauce?.I dont know if anybody out there can tell me if this is right or no,was the rspca not started with two hunts woman from london area,for retirring huntting dogs if so what a change in thoughts.just thought i would throw that in as well.

No - other way round. 85% goes on the cause.

Have a look here - http://www.rnli.org.uk/who_we_are/press_centre/download_centre?selectSection=21874&submit_downloadSearch=

As for the RSPCA origins - its all here - www.animallaw.info/historical/articles/arukrspcahist.htm

Isn't google fab! :)

[FalconryMews101]

I'm going to try and get involved with raptor rescue, i would have thought these would be the first people to possibly call. Im currently in talks with them to help them out massively if they wish with my BOP collection.

Obviously they need to do more advertising if no-ones mentioned it on here but i belive they do alot of good. Charities must be a truly difficult thing to run but there are some worthy ones out there. Like i said in a precious post look at possibly our best centre, Hawk Conservancy, they do a massive amount for conservation. IMO everything needs a chance be it a Buzzard or Osprey, but we also have our own opinions on organisations/charities.

[WagClarke]

I'm going to try and get involved with raptor rescue, i would have thought these would be the first people to possibly call. Im currently in talks with them to help them out massively if they wish with my BOP collection.

Obviously they need to do more advertising if no-ones mentioned it on here but i belive they do alot of good. Charities must be a truly difficult thing to run but there are some worthy ones out there. Like i said in a precious post look at possibly our best centre, Hawk Conservancy, they do a massive amount for conservation. IMO everything needs a chance be it a Buzzard or Osprey, but we also have our own opinions on organisations/charities.


Yes well, Raptor Rescue was one of the charities which was called repeatedly by this lady, and they NEVER got back to her.

Just as an update, the buzzard continued to feed well, but over a period of 10 days with treatment from the vet it never got better. It couldn't fly but would sit on the bow perch in the sun in the aviary really happily but when it tried to move it just went round in circles. The vet thought it had got a brain injury from which it was unlikely to ever recover and so we made the decision to have him/her put to sleep.

The vet made no charge and would accept no donation of any kind from me - and yes, he is an avian specialist.

NONE OF THE CHARITIES/RESCUE CENTRES EVER RESPONDED.

[Fenlands Rescue]

Regardless of charitable help available, if a member of public finds any injured wildlife they should take it to a vet, most will treat wildlife for free in any event. She was lucky it wasnt an injured peregrine or she would have potentially fallen foul of the W&CA 1981 by failing to do so.

Ignorance of the law is no defence.

Hattie sorry to disagree, but if you take an injured wild creature to a vet all they are required to do is treat it for pain relief. They are not required to treat any injury. That is why if they do not run a wildlife section most will offer minimum treated to cover themselves or simply euthanase it if it is left with them. I must say at this point that a very small percentage of vets in this country run a free wildlife section for the treatment of wildlife casualties.
As far as falling foul of the law if the lady had been in contact or trying to contact a selection of not only the larger animal rescue groups and also so called specialist rescue charities that offer rescue helplines then she would have been safe from being accused of not trying, so covered as far as the wildlife act goes.
Just my opinion after dealing with a lot of similar cases.
George

[Trigger]

[QUOTE=wagclarke;1054193]Yes well, Raptor Rescue was one of the charities which was called repeatedly by this lady, and they NEVER got back to her.

Just as an update, the buzzard continued to feed well, but over a period of 10 days with treatment from the vet it never got better. It couldn't fly but would sit on the bow perch in the sun in the aviary really happily but when it tried to move it just went round in circles. The vet thought it had got a brain injury from which it was unlikely to ever recover and so we made the decision to have him/her put to sleep.

The vet made no charge and would accept no donation of any kind from me - and yes, he is an avian specialist.

NONE OF THE CHARITIES/RESCUE CENTRES EVER RESPONDED.


I run the RR helpline.If we are not there to take the call there is an answering machine, we ALWAYS get back to callers (providing they leave their number, you wouldn't belive how many people forget to!). We then find the nearest rehabber to the caller and give the caller the contact details. many of the rehabbers are volunteers so natuarally cannot always respond immideatly. People will usually call us back if they do not have any luck contacting that rehabber so we can try and find them another contact. Raptor rescue would of got back to this lady. If you know what date she called I can check the call log.