On arrival at the practice we found the deer actually had a broken antler, fractured at the base, so we had no option but to transport the deer up to St Tiggywinkles for treatment. The deer arrived safely and had the antler stabilised before being taken to one of their specialist holding pens. This is one of the lucky road casualties which has survived.

A swan which crash landed in a farm at Framfield has been released at Princes Park. The very old male swan lost his partner two years ago and has recently started trying to fly off.
Unfortunately as he is old and has not been used to flying long distances for a number of years he runs out of strength and crash lands. He has done this several times now so we decided to it was best to bring him to Princes Park to be with other swans. We hope that in his new surroundings he will be happy and with the many visitors who help look after the swans he will be ok and more settled.

We have had a series of shot birds over the past couple of weeks, including a crow from Uckfield and three gulls, two from Hastings and one from Hailsham. One was shot by an air gun and the others have been shot with shot guns and are peppered with shot.

Many members of the public are not aware of the legislation regarding the use and possession of guns and the shooting of birds. This information is taken from information supplied by the Shooting Sports Trust Ltd: It is against the law for anyone to have a loaded airgun in a public place.

An air gun is loaded if there is a pellet, dart or anything else in the gun whether it is cocked or not. A public place is a place anywhere the public are allowed regardless of who owns the land or if they have to pay to use the land. It is sometimes thought that those birds which are often called vermin can be killed at any time by anyone. That is not so. Birds which are regarded as pests (corvids, starlings etc) may only be killed by what the law calls an 'authorised person' – that is the person who owns the land or who has the permission to shoot pests.

However WRAS has been told by DEFRA and the RSPB that shooting so-called pest birds whilst they are nesting is not permitted unless under certain strict circumstances – dive bombing and noise are not suitable reasons. A trespasser or a person who shoots at such birds in a public place will commit offences against the firearms act for having a gun and also against the law on protection of birds by killing, or even trying to kill, a wild bird, when he is not an authorised person.

It is normally an offence to have any firearm in a public place, unless safely covered. Even if it is safely stowed any firearm other than an airgun, unless obviously for an innocent purpose, should reasonably be reported to the police.

Anyone firing any weapon on or over a piece of land without the permission of the landowner is probably guilty of an offence and should certainly be reported to the police.

Any unauthorised non-airgun should definitely be dealt with by the police. Weapons such as crossbows, bow and arrow, or even large catapults can be just as dangerous.

If a person is behaving dangerously with any weapons, or seems likely to, call the police and tell them there is an armed person in a public place – they will be quick to help you deal with the situation.

Many people complain about young lads and their behaviour but we would like to thank a young lad called Andrew Tardis from Hailsham who phoned numerous organisations before phoning our rescue line number to report a shot gull in Battle Road, Hailsham.

Andrew saved this bird from an almost certain death by looking after and protecting it until WRAS rescuers could arrive and help the bird.

I would also like to thank MS Cornford, Highcroft Veterinary Group, Sumfield & Day, A22 Pet Store, Brit Press, Lou Lou's and Hailsham Pavilion for helping to sponsor or provide prizes for the charity dog show being organised by our supporter Deirdre Hallett for Sunday July 27 at The Dicker Village Hall, Coldharbour Road, Upper Dicker, Hailsham. We are looking for volunteers to help out with this event so if you are available please e-mail me at trevor@wildlifeambulance.org

WRAS was called out by East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service to rescue a pheasant inside B&Q in Newhaven at the weekend. The pheasant was perched high up on a beam. More on this story next week.