Trevor's wildlife rescue mission

TREVOR WEEKS has been rescuing injured birds and looking after wildlife road casualties since he was 13.

Now 29, the Hailsham computer programmer has helped thousands of distressed animals since he first came across two oil-soaked guillemots and watched them recover under the skillful hands of Meta Mann at her bird hospital in Seaford.

In 1998, appalled at the slaughter of wild animals on the roads and the cavalier attitude of many motorists, he started the East Sussex Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service using his converted Ford Escort estate.

He now co-ordinates round-the-clock operations from South Road, Hailsham, with 15 local volunteers, eight of whom are trained in special rescue techniques. Trevor s dream is to turn this labour of love into an intensive care and hospitalisation unit, with rehabilitation facilities in Hailsham or Lewes to serve the whole county.

He believes it would take 40,000 a year to run the project, but cash is at a premium, with WRAS spending around 45 on each distress call it answers.

Most of the volunteers dig deep into their own pockets for food and bedding for recuperating foxes, hedgehogs, badgers and birds.

It cost 105 to over-winter each of the 15 underweight hedgehogs WRAS saved last year.

We have rescued 25 swans this year already, including a cygnet from Pells pond in Lewes, two birds from Hailsham Common Pond and a family from Valley Road pond in Newhaven , Trevor explained.

He is increasingly concerned about the number of motorists who either fail to stop when they hit an animal, or with the best of intentions, move them and cause their death.

He is haunted by the screams of an injured badger which he unwittingly moved from the Hailsham bypass some years ago.

Recently, he stopped traffic on the coast road in Newhaven to check out an apparently dead black cat in the middle of the road. With help from Peacehaven rescuer Lindy King, the cat was taken by wildlife ambulance to a vet where with oxygen, pain killers and a drip, it made a full recovery.

If I had carried on driving, like the motorists in front of me, the cat would have died a slow and painful death on the road, or been hit again by another car.

Many badly injured animals shut down their systems and go into a coma-like state, where they can remain for months before making a complete recovery, he added.

Anyone interested in supporting WRAS can reach them on their 24-hour rescue line, 07815 078234.