Trevor's Week - 29 April 2009
As the gulls start nesting we find ourselves starting to deal with more and more shot gulls again. Five gulls have been shot in the past two weeks in Eastbourne.
Key areas where shootings seem to be taking place are the Acacia Road, Melbourne Road, Sydney Road, Willowfield Road and Rydale Road areas in Eastbourne as well as the Broom Close and Rattle Road areas of Stone Cross, plus Winchester Way in Willingdon.
The word is starting to spread and people are finding it more and more unacceptable to shoot across gardens and out of bedroom windows at gulls on other people's houses and not to mention the risk it poses to the lives of humans and domesticated pets too.
Thanks to the efforts of police in Bexhill and Hastings the problems seems to have reduced but in Eastbourne there is still a problem.
There are several organisations on the internet which can provide humane and safe ways of deterring gulls from nesting and roosting on buildings so shooting just causes suffering and does not solve the problem.
It is an offence to shoot across someone else's property without the permission of the landowner. It is also an offence to shoot nesting gulls without the use of a general licence, which must be printed off and available showing clearly which general licence is being used and why.
WE have had numerous calls about foxes this week but virtually all of them have been foxes which are sun bathing in gardens or on shed roof tops.
Foxes are not nocturnal animals like many people still think. They are active during the daytime as well as night time but they will take more risks at night when there are less humans around. We had a fox collapsed at Sovereign Harbour last week which was very poorly and this fox was rescued and rushed to the vets. A blood test revealed kidney failure and so sadly had to be put to sleep.
A big thank-you to everyone who attended our Easter Fair at Seaford. We opened for just three hours and raised 234.46 which was great.
I received a call to Hailsham Common Pond last week about a white domestic duck which was poorly and apparently injured.
Despite us being 'wildlife rescue' and not normally dealing with domestic ducks, I visited and watched the duck easily get on and off the island, being followed by several other male ducks which tried at every opportunity to rape the duck.
This is normal at this time of year and a number of female ducks die as a result of the males ganging up on the females.
Most of the domestic ducks at Hailsham Common Pond have had their wings clipped and cannot fly – as a result, they are more at risk, as they can't fly away from the problem.
It is illegal to dump domesticated duck on to ponds such as this. I have spoken to Hailsham Town Council expressing my concern for the domestic ducks and suggested that they should be removed.
Problems with such birds are the responsibility of the landowner.
I have been told that the council will consider removing the birds.
Unfortunately, this white duck died a couple of days later as a result of the attacks. It is impossible for WRAS to try to stop ducks raping female ducks. We would have thousands of them in and no time to undertake any other rescues.
This is yet another man-made problem, as the imbalance of male to female ducks is as a result of the male ducks being released for shooting, causing an imbalance by the lucky ones which didn't get shot.
East Sussex WRAS is a voluntary organisation which relies on donations. We do not receive funding from government nor the RSPCA. Anyone wishing to make a donation should contact The Treasurer at PO Box 2148, Seaford, East Sussex, BN25 9DE. www.wildlifeambulance.org 24-hour rescue line: 07815 078 234
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Weather for Eastbourne
Sunday 27 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Light showers
Temperature: 13 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: West
