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Latest Diary Entry

Very very sad start to this update.
We have lossed Shadow our beautiful big boy Iggy. He passed away a few weeks back.

We then had to have our gorgeous Khan, the Lynx, put to sleep. He had been poorly for a while but treatment was having no effect so the hard decision was made.
Khan was suffering from an aggressive tumour in his inner ear.
We said our goodbyes and he left us warm in his bed, aged 15.

Although we were all very teary, our attention immediately turned to Buster, Khans son, as he has never been alone, we were all very worried about how he would cope.
Buster was less worried, apart from having a sniff about he has shown no signs of missing Khan, which is good, and seems to be enjoying the extra attention he has been getting.
Buster will be neutered when we can afford it and we hope to track down a lady friend for him.

On the up side, a new furry bundle has arrived, Bramble the Shetland has arrived at Gentleshaw to keep my newly weaned foal company.
The boys are not living in the centre but in an adjacent field, which Stan the Capuchin is loving as he is finding his new neighbours fascinating.

Talking of Stan, he was nearly sent to live at the circus after breaking the window to his enclosure; he was trying to open a stone at the time, on the window, the glass now has a lovely crack in it (it is safety glass so didn’t shatter) and Stan was disappointed to find no nut fell out of the stone.
I'm sure this will not deter him from trying to "open" any other stones he finds, he is nothing if not consistent!

The flying squad are now up for their winter rest, the ok weather has meant they are up later than usual but all are now enjoying large dinners of Quail , Jill and Kyla are already looking like crimbo turkeys.

That just leave me to say a massive thank you to you all for following our goings on, thank you to the visitors who have supported us and thank you to the volunteers who have spilt blood (mainly me), sweat ( all of you) and tears (me again) over the year.

05th Nov. 2011

Autumn is here.
We had an alright October, with visitor numbers being up by 60% on last years numbers, probably thanks to the bout of sunshine we enjoyed.

We have had a male Bearded Dragon in, he has some toes missing and the end of his tail but he is ok apart from that and will be looking for a new home shortly.

We were booked to visit Shugborough hall with some of our owls for their Halloween event last Saturday. The evening went well and we got some pumpkins for the monkeys to enjoy.

As the sunshine has now gone, the heaters are all on low (electricity bill, ouch!) and the Terrapins have moved in for the winter. This means we can start improvements to their pond ready for the spring.

I decided, after 15 years of no days off sick, to be proper poorly last week.
After several trips to hospital and a whole week off work, I’m back and would just like to take the opportunity to thank my family, Morgans & Smiths, and volunteers, who stepped into the breach and looked after the centre for me.
Extra thanks to Mom, Twin sis and hubby who were wonderful, as always, and thanks to the unsuspecting visitors who got politely thrown out of the sanctuary by my mother when I got taken into hospital.
Whoever you were many thanks for your understanding and please come back soon!

Kate, together with terrapin Emma, Terrapin Emma’s Mom, Landy Andy and Liz the wiz did a sponsored walk for us. They have so far raised £127, well done to you, gold stars all round!

Our 5th Photography day went really well. We had some of our reptile posing and the birds behaved beautifully.
Apache was even brave enough to fly in an adjacent field.
I took this dodgy shot, (below), but there were some fantastic pictures taken on the day. We will be holding more photography days next year so stay tuned.

Rascal the Raccoon enjoyed some mussels for the first time the other day, Rocky 2 and Rosie are experts but Rascal had to think about it for a while first. It proved to be good enrichment and something we will repeat, when the mussels are on special offer again!