Sorry for the lack of updates lately, been very busy and not had time to write much.

I won't give a blow-by-blow account of what I’ve been up to since my last update, but at the moment I’m investigating someone who came into London for the day with his family on a hot sunny Sunday. He brought with him two dogs, one was sick and old, and the other was young and not fully fit. The dogs were left in the car while their owner visited one of the museums. A member of the public saw the dogs in distress and called us, as well as the Police. Sadly, due to the heat in the car, one of the dogs died. Another case I’m looking at is a dog that was beaten to death by its owner, he denies the offence and without a witness I’m struggling to prove he did it.

Around this time of year many people have trees cut back, this can cause problems for birds with eggs and chicks. It is an offence to disturb any bird’s nest, however this seems to be ignored by some people and companies, a number of the complaints I’m dealing with relate to this type of infringement of the law. Staying with the birds, I’ve seen an increase in the number of shooting incidents this year in my area, I’m dealing with three calls at the minute. It seems that people do not understand that although there is a general license that allows land owners or their agents to kill certain birds, there has to be a justifiable reason for it, not just the “they're vermin”. Both the RSPCA and the Police will prosecute anyone found carrying out any of the offences mentioned above.



On a lighter note, I was involved in the rescue of a swan covered in diesel fuel, along with the London Wildcare Beddington. After a spillage in the river Wandle, a five-hour operation took place to remove a number of birds and waterfowl from the river until the danger had passed. Thankfully the birds were not too seriously damaged and were returned after a stay at the Wildcare centre.

As usual we have taken in a high number of exotic animals, these vary from snakes to tortoises, reptiles to birds. On many occasions we manage to get them back their owners, sadly its not always possible and we have to find homes for a good few. Reptiles are the biggest problem, most places we use are now full, and this means that we now have to access each animal’s suitability for re-homing and in the end making decisions that we do not like to take. As I have said in the past, the decision to have any animal put to sleep is not an easy one, however in the case of reptiles we are being put in a position that, because of the specialist care and attention these animals need, and the lack of suitable homes we are turning owners away or towards veterinary surgeons to have them destroyed. We need stronger controls on the sale, importation and keeping of these type of animals to reduce the numbers dying and suffering in captivity, as well as having to be put to sleep.

I’m sorry to finish on a sad note but this job is not always fun, I intentionally don’t post some of the photographs for my case investigations because they would be too upsetting for many people. However I do feel that the truth should not be kept from you and where there is a problem I will write about it. I hope you find this and previous diary entries interesting and if you wish to make any comments please contact me via E-mail.