2020  - Message from Joan

 

I’m very, very late writing my summary of 2019 but to tell the truth, it went by in such a blur that I can’t remember most of it!!

 

I’d been on holiday with my dog Molly in a cottage on Clee Hill. It was so relaxing that I nearly came to a standstill. However, my rude awakening started on the way home because my phone never stopped.

 

My vet practice, Straitons at Penkridge had kindly taken my calls whilst I was away, and along with my friends and fellow hedgehog rescues Dianne and Carol in Tamworth, took in needy hedgehogs for me until I got back home. Vet nurses at Straitons even took very young hoglets in that needed hand feeding and divided them between themselves to syringe feed.

 

So, the minute I got in my door I had to answer all of the calls that had been coming in whilst I was driving, arrange for these casualties to be brought to me and also sort out the hedgehogs being held by Straitons, Dianne and Carol.

 

No hutches we’re ready and the doorbell rang incessantly before I had hardly taken my coat off.

 

This crazy influx of hedgehogs, all having different needs and a couple of which I had to get straight to my vets 6 miles away,carried on till 11pm.

 

I finally got into bed at half past midnight the phoning waking me at 6am on the Sunday morning with the first casualty of the day, and then another 8 arrived until at 8 pm someone brought me a litter of tiny 3 day old hoglets, all crying for food.

 

For the first time in 18 years I cracked, absolutely dead on my feet and the only people I could think of who may be able to help me but it was not only a Sunday but also out of hours, were Cuan Wildlife Rescue, three quarters of an hours drive away.

 

Thankfully someone answered the phone and all I could say was, “I can’t cope”. Do you know, these wonderful people sent up a member of their staff, out of hours on a Sunday night, to take the babies from me to be syringe fed every two hours by one of their volunteers.

 

There is one thing for sure, I could not  possibly have helped them.

 

This was just the way it was to go on, almost till Christmas, 812 poorly, needy, helpless hedgehogs.

 

On top of this, a television film crew seemed to be turning up every 3 or 4 weeks throughout the year, and you might find it hard to believe but when a member of the various studios phoned me to say when I was to be on tv, I couldn’t for the life of me remember which crew was which who had been filming at my home!

 

I was also booked to give talks, here, there and everywhere.

 

Now you will be saying, “Why the hell, when you were taking hedgehogs in, 19 hours of the day, did you agree to do the television filming?" -  The answer is simple because all of the programs that I was involved in were about saving hedgehogs and other wildlife and that’s what I’m trying to do, I’m trying to save our much loved hedgehogs.

 

Along with my wonderful vets, E.C. Straitons and Partners, who are really indispensable to my rescue, there are numerous other friends to whom I owe my thanks.

 

Others who I couldn’t do without are Cuan Wildlife, but if I had to list everyone who go above and beyond to help me, including the many members of the public, all of them who are there for me 24 hours of the day, I would fill the page.

 

You all know who you are and you know too how very grateful I am for your help, so all I can say is thank you very much indeed.

 

And now, here we go yet again, let’s save some hedgehogs.

 

Joan.