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BRITAIN’S only Polar Bear has stunned her zookeepers by hiding from a fresh flurry of snow.
Edinburgh Zoo’s former favourite attraction – Mercedes the polar bear – was shifted north to the Highland Wildlife Park to roam in a colder habitat to match her native Canada.
She was expected to lap up the white stuff like every other Polar Bear on earth.
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Mercedes is getting ready to move to the Highlands
By Cara Sulieman
BRITAIN’S only polar bear is getting ready to move to a new home in the Highlands after a quarter of a century living in the same place.
Mercedes has been at Edinburgh Zoo since 1984 after being rescued from Canada where she was going to be shot for venturing into a nearby town.
But later this month she is going to be moved up to the Highland Wildlife Park near Kingussie where a four acre tundra environment has been created just for her.
Although her enclosure is big enough for her needs, visitors have always been worried about the little space she has.
By Oliver Farrimond
A NEW arrival at Edinburgh Zoo is thrilling visitors – a miniature hippopotamus.
Little Leisha – which means “gift” in West African – is a pygmy hippo, the pint-sized cousin of the gargantuan beast that lives in the rivers of sub-Saharan Africa.
Born on 9 June, the tiny arrival is the 16th baby hippo to be born at the zoo in 30 years.
Darren McGarry, animal collection manager at Edinburgh Zoo, said that the pygmy hippo baby was an exciting addition to the zoo’s menagerie.
He said: “This baby will be very popular with visitors to Edinburgh Zoo this summer. Continue reading
Louise Seddon with the badger
By Cara Sulieman
A BABY badger narrowly escaped death after falling down a storm drain and getting stuck.
With eight-foot high walls the badger would either have starved or drowned if a passer-by hadn’t heard it struggling to get out.
Seeing that the animal was stuck, they called the Scottish SPCA out to the scene in Cupar, Fife.
But freeing the stubborn four-month-old animal proved to be difficult.
By Oliver Farrimond
A PAIR of abandoned baby pine martens are being nursed back to health by the Scottish SPCA after falling from their nests.
Concerned members of the public handed in the pine martens, which resemble large weasels, after finding them lying abandoned, starving and exhausted.
Nine-week-old Aspen was discovered near a cottage in Banff, Aberdeenshire after tumbling out of her chimney-top nest, while walkers at Farr, near Inverness, stumbled across three-month-old Rowen who was lying on a path.
Both animals are now being looked after by trained staff at the SSPCA Wildlife Rescue Centre near Dunfermline, where they will be nursed back to health over the next two to three months.
Collin Seddon, manager of the centre, said: “These young pine martens were found in the daytime, lying out in the open, which is unusual for this typically nocturnal animal so clearly there was a problem and the people that found them did the right thing in contacting us. Continue reading
By Michael MacLeod and Oliver Farrimond
A PAIR of fluffy owl siblings were almost crushed to death when jackdaws built a nest on top of them.
The tiny Tawny chicks had their nest engulfed when the larger birds decided they made for perfect soft bedding.
But the plucky birds were rescued by animal experts from the Scottish SPCA, who said they found them “left for dead”.
They have been fondly named Fiona and Greig, after the senior animal rescuer who saved them, Fiona Greig.
They are said to be recovering well after being buried under almost a foot of new bedding at a falconry centre in Cumbernauld.
The birds had to be hand-reared at the Scottish SPCA’s Middlebank wildlife rescue centre until they became more confident. Continue reading
Wildlife assistant Lorraine Gow giving Sooty his eye drops
By Cara Sulieman
A WOOD PIGEON got a roasting when a well-meaning rescuer tried to release it from a chimney – by smoking it out.
The bird was found stuck halfway up a chimney in a house in Crombie, Fife.
The hapless householder called a family member for help and was told to burn paper in the grate and “smoke the pigeon out.”
Painful injuries
But rather than freeing the pigeon, nicknamed Sooty, it caused him painful injuries including sooty eyes, swollen feet and a singed tail.
Sooty was still trapped up the chimney when the ambulance driver arrived from the Scottish SPCA.
Reaching up into the hole and releasing singed Sooty from behind a metal strut, Kieran Smart managed to get him out of the baking hot furnace.
Smouldering paper
The Scottish SPCA ambulance driver said: “When I arrived there was smouldering paper in the fire and it was very hot inside the chimney.
“The pigeon was obstructed by a metal strut, but I was able to reach up and pull him free.
“He was very hot to touch, his feet were swollen, his eyes were clogged with soot and his tail feathers were damaged.”
Wildlife rescue centre
The overheated bird was rushed to the charity’s Wildlife Rescue Centre at Middlebank Farm in Fife to get cleaned up and cooled down.
The soot was washed off of his crisp feathers and he received drops to clean the dirt out of his eyes and moisten them up again.
It took another two days for the swelling on his feet to go down but his tail feathers remain tattered from the ordeal.
Released back into the wild
It will be another few days before the wood pigeon is well enough to be released back into the wild near where he was found.
But despite the terrifying ordeal for Sooty, the charity are not blaming the would-be hero, instead using it as an example of when to call the experts in.
Centre Manager Colin Seddon said, “There was no malice intended by the person who did this, just a lack of common sense.
“The space was so small it was impossible for Sooty to spread his wings to fly up or down the chimney, so smoke was most definitely not the answer.
“Our advice to anyone who finds an animal or bird trapped and in distress is to contact our animal helpline immediately on 03000 999 999 and we will send one of our trained inspectors or ambulance drivers to come and release it.”
By Michael MacLeod
TWENTY swans were among dozens of seabirds covered in oil after Tuesday’s freight train derailment.
The helpless birds bore the brunt of 1,000 tonnes of explosive fuel after a ten-carriage locomotive careered off the rails into fields.
Diesel and heating oil from the train had leaked into water close to the accident spot near Stewarton railway station, Ayrshire.
The oil seeped through the water system to Irvine Harbour where a large flock of swans gather over the winter.
Anxious wildlife experts rushed to the scene yesterday morning, worried that the birds may have swallowed the deadly oil.
With the help of Hessilhead Wildlife Rescue Unit, they also saved geese, eider ducks and cormorants.
The birds have now been transported to the Scottish SPCA’s Wildlife Rescue Centre in Fife, which has a specialist cleaning facility for the treatment of oiled birds.
But they aren’t expected to be returned to the wild for some time, until the water is decontaminated.
Scottish SPCA manager Colin Seddon said: “Each bird goes into a large stainless steel sink in our purpose-built oiled bird facility and we use washing up liquid to remove the oil. It’s a two man job that can take up to an hour per bird.
“They can ingest the oil so we stomach feed the swans with a charcoal mixture to help eliminate toxins from the oil.
“Once they have been cleaned up and are feeding ok then they usually make a fairly swift recovery.
“However, we will not be able to release them back in to the water at Irvine Harbour until all the oil has been cleaned up so they could stay in our care for a while yet.”
The massive clean-up comes a day after staff rescued and washed a chocolate covered pigeon.
They fondly named the bird Wonka after it dive-bombed into a chocolate fountain in a Thornton’s sweet shop in Edinburgh.
Deadline Press & Picture Agency 