Trevor's wildlife rescue mission

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

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

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

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 car.

He now co-ordinates round-the-clock operations from South Road, Hailsham, with fifteen 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.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

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.

The distressed swans were taken to a sanctuary near Heathrow, because there are no closer facilities.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Trevor 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 by-pass 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 local vet, where with oxygen, pain killers and a drip, it made a full recovery.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

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.

We also move dead badgers, foxes, hedgehogs, deer and other wildlife out of the road to prevent other animals who feed off them from being hit by cars .

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