OPINION: Wildlife rehab

From my days at the RSPCA and general London vet clinic life, you do see more wildlife patients than most people would assume. There are pigeons, squirrels, mice from the tube and the ubiquitous foxes.

I learned many excellent and important lessons at the RSPCA and the overriding one for wildlife is that rehabbing them to return to the wild is like training an Olympic athlete. The demands on our wildlife are such that being released not fully functioning and fit is not a welfare-focused action.

Although it is difficult to process for many, if you have been able to get close to and pick up most wildlife in the UK then it is probably so unwell that it cannot be successfully rehabbed.

So it is with much sadness I have seen a couple of stories in regional press about surgery on wildlife.

In one case, a fox had surgery to insert a stent to reduce hydrocephalus and the associated seizures. The reports of this event raised many questions for me:

• Where will the fox live now?
• How do the clinicians know this surgery is likely to be successful in a non-domesticated animal?
• How did clinicians decide it was an ethically and morally justified surgery?
• How was the bill paid?

From the article information there are partial answers which for me do not quell any anxiety I have about the welfare of the patient concerned. The fox is now taken care of by a local wildlife charity who also paid the bill.

Wildlife may well be the category of animal that we need to ensure remains separate from our legislation on other species in particular pet or livestock animals.

There may be strong cases for individuals in these groups to receive this surgery. But surely for a fox that is a wild animal, no matter how domesticated we can make them seem, then life as a semi pet is not a welfare positive situation.