Thursday, January 28, 2010

Dasherdate/Scottish Wildcats

Dasher continues to do very well. He is up and about and getting better every day. He is no longer using the stall and is living outside, though we have provided extra shelters and he has been seen using them.

Our new arrivals for 2010 are here at last, they are a pair of Scottish Wildcats. The male and female are both grade 1 cats which means they are pure in all respects and suitable for breeding.

One of the great challenges that this species is facing is that in wild they mate with domestic cats and produce hybrids thus "diluting" their genetic purity. Some researchers believe that they may only be between 200 and 400 pure Scottish Wildcats living in the wild today, making them a very rare animal indeed and critically endangered.

We are getting to know our pair (who are also getting to know each other) and will be naming them soon. At the moment they are settling in to their new quarters in part of the old quarry.

We've seen lots of wallaby tummy movement in the last few days which means that several of our females have joeys, we will probably start to see the youngsters themselves in 8 to 10 weeks.

Lottie, Harriet and dad Tamarisk are very energetic at the moment but when the playfighting and chasing are over Lottie still likes snuggling up to her mum and suckling for a few minutes before she nods off......ahhhh, so cute.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Dasherdate

Just a quick note to say that Dasher continues to amaze us all and is doing very well.
He has been released from the stall and is free to come and go as he pleases.

His appetite is good and his wound is healing nicely although he does run out of energy quite quickly, especially when going up hill. We have put out a couple of small shelters so that he doesn't have to go very far before he finds one.

All marvellous news, the only thing is his name, Dasher, seems a little inappropriate at the moment, maybe we will think about that one later...

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Dasher: an update

Dasher returned from the vets on Monday a bit dazed and groggy after having his right rear leg removed and spent the night very quietly as you might expect.

On Tuesday he managed to get himself up a couple of times and although he was drinking lots we couldn't entice him to eat very much, not even his favourites (grapes and monkey nuts) seemed to be hitting the spot. During the evening he perked up a little and that has continued into Wednesday.

His appetite is not very good but we have discovered that he still enjoys lots of contact (rubbing and scratching) and squeaks if you stop too soon so we are able to keep him under close observation without worrying him at all.

His wound is healing well and he is getting around on his own in the small area we have confined him to. We're stocking up on grapes and nuts in the hope that we'll need them soon.

Monday, January 18, 2010

So far (not) so good

Well, no doubt you have all had a tricky time of it during the past six weeks or so due to the extreme weather. No different here, we've had it bad and we're hoping its all behind us. Getting into work was the first hazard on several occasions; frozen roads, frozen padlocks, frozen gates. The list could go on indefinitely.

All of the otters have come through it without any major problems; they were given large quantities of extra bedding and up to a 50% increase in their food intake each day resulting in happy otters but a large dent in the food budget. We think Biggy and Smalley need a diet soon as they have been stealing some food from Libby, who, by the way is coming along very nicely indeed and will even come out when called for by a couple of the keepers.

Tor continues to be the happiest of creatures and it can be very uplifting when, having had a bit of a rubbishy day, you go into to feed him and the gang and he greets you like a long lost playmate; bringing toys and twigs to you to play 'tug of war' and 'fetch'. He is however, completely unaware of the effect he has on keepers when he leaps up to them to get their attention to play. (We hope he might learn to deal with the yells/screams etc one day). We aren't really that scared of him, the real problem is that he has to be the clumsiest cub ever and you never quite know where he's going to end up, or even whether he'll be the right way up! He puts me in mind of young puppies skidding and sliding around, tongues out and madly enthusiastic about everything. Especially food.


Lottie, Pluto, Kernow and Coady are all growing well and still in with their parents.

Some of you may have seen Jill (a British Otter) on your visits here; she had a very bad infection in February last year and recovered well after a very long convalescent period. She was a reclusive otter though and so we moved her away from public view in the late summer. Two weeks later we moved Tino in with her and the result is that she gave birth to one cub in late November. All three are doing fine and we hope to see the cub soon, although we are leaving them to their own devices at the moment.

Dasher, our tame Muntjac Deer had a very serious accident on the ice and broke one of this hind legs. Unfortunately the break was too serious to repair and his leg has been amputated. He is in the early stages of recovery and we are keeping our fingers crossed that he will pull through. He is now back from the vets (Castle Vets, Launceston - who have been great, thank you). At the moment he is in a straw covered stall so we can keep an eye on him for the next few days.

We are pleased that the Wallabies weren't too upset by the prolonged cold weather, we have even seen signs that at least two of them have joeys although we haven't actually seen the babies themselves. Its a very odd sight seeing wallabies in the snow, apparently quite content.

Lots and lots of trees have come down and we've plenty of chainsawing to do together with miscelleaneous renewalls and repairs. No rest for the wicked, eh?