Successful rescue of a seal, and we hope buzzard recovers well

Unfortunately they were unable to catch the seal, which disappeared back into the seal before they could get anywhere near the marine mammal.

Just after 8.30am the next day another call was received but this time from members of the public by the Eastbourne Wish Tower.

Once again rescuers from WRAS attended. A quick assessment showed it to be the same seal.

This time rescuers were able to block the seal’s escape route back to the water and approached and successfully caught the injured seal.

The mammal was transported back to WRAS’s hospital before being taken to RSPCA Mallydams at Hastings where they have specialist seal facilities.

The seal had numerous puncture wounds but the cause is unclear but possibly from fighting with another seal.

We use newspapers as bedding for most of our animals that come into WRAS’s casualty centre at Whitesmith.

We rely solely on donations of newspaper so please if you go through quite a few during the week bring them to us and recycle them at WRAS!

As we go into our winter period we will use dozens of newspapers every day as hedgehog bedding and much more.

We have donation bins outside the centre at Unit 2, The Shaw Barn, A22, Whitesmith, BN8 6JD.

Any donations are very much appreciated.

Please no magazine inserts or shiny papers and if you can remove any staples it saves us a lot of time too.

We can also accept Friday Ads as they are great for hand tearing as bedding.

Also please no machine shredded paper as it is too coarse as well as being too fine for our use and small animals can get it entangled around their small legs.

If you are in Uckfield, Justine at Paws and Claws, Olive Yard off the High Street is happy to store them till be can collect from her.

We have continued to get more small hedgehogs coming into care.

At this time of year hedgehogs should ideally be 600 grams.

Hedgehogs can survive hibernation as low as 450 grams but the lower their weight the worse their condition will be when they come out of hibernation.

So if you find a hedgehog at night which looks small please weigh it and give us a call if it is under 600 grams.

We had a little hoglet admitted this week from Rodmill near Lewes. The poor little fella was just 115 grams!

A stunning road casualty buzzard has been rescued by members of the public and rescuers from WRAS.

We hope the buzzard will make a full recovery and that it is just concussed.

Don’t forget our Christmas fair which is being held on Sunday December 2 at East Dean Village Hall, close to the Tiger Inn and East Dean Church.

Doors open at 2pm and close at 5pm.

Free entry and there will be refreshments available as well as loads of stalls with plenty of Christmas gift ideas.

There are quite a few deer road casualties happening at the moment, so if driving between dusk and dawn please be careful.

Slow down and remember where you have seen deer previously and take care in those areas, especially in wooded areas and where there are no grass verges where deer can leap out giving no warnings.

If you do hit a deer or see an injured deer on the roadside please call Sussex Police on 101 or if in the road causing a hazard please dial 999.

At the point of writing this column my colleagues are rushing down stairs to deal with a very young fallow deer with a nasty rear leg injury and providing emergency first aid and treatment.

Deer specialists Chris and Sylvia are on their way, but the poor creature is not looking good.

So heart breaking.