Attempt to reunite rescued Bengal tiger cub with mother

Found alone and dehydratedOctober 2011: Attempts to reunite a month-old tiger cub with its mother is under way in the Burapahar range of Kaziranga National Park, by the Assam Forest Department assisted by International Fund for Animal Welfare - Wildlife Trust of India (IFAW-WTI).

The female cub was found alone by forest guards earlier this month. The following day, a makeshift shelter was prepared at the site where the cub was found for the attempted reunion. The cub was left overnight with five infra-red camera traps set up by Aaranyak scanning the area around it, with hopes that her mother would come to get her.

Sadly, no tiger movement was recorded. As the cub was getting weak, she had to be taken to the IFAW-WTI run Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) where she was treated for dehydration.

The cub is now active and noisyAs the cub recuperated, camera traps were left at the site to capture any tiger movement. No relevant images were found on the camera traps, but tiger pugmarks were observed around the area. Given the territorial nature of tigers and that the cub was found here, conservationists believe that there is a high probability that the pugmarks belong to the mother.

‘The cub has now recovered and is active and noisy, which could help in the reuniting effort, if you look at it positively,' said Dr Abhjit Bhawal, IFAW-WTI veterinarian. ‘She will be placed in the shelter tonight, which has been shifted closer to the area where the pugmarks were seen and in an area with better cover, unlike the area where the cub was found.'

WTI's chief vet, Dr Ashraf said: ‘There are calculated risks. Given the pugmarks observed and the cub's improved health, she has a fair chance at making it back to a normal life in the wild. However, predators are a threat to the animal's safety. In case these attempts bear no results, the authorities will decide on the fate of the animal.'

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/rescued-tiger-cub.html

RSPCA foxed by 'puppies'

RSPCA workers were shocked when five tiny 'puppies' dumped in a plastic bag in London turned out to be fox cubs.


A passer-by found the tiny quintet in a garden in Stoke Newington and rushed them to the RSPCA Harmsworth Animal Hospital.




At first it was thought that the black bundles of fur were Staffordshire bull terrier puppies.

The reality, however, proved to be something slightly wilder - they are in fact fox cubs.

Just where there mother is and how they came to be dumped in a plastic bag remains a mystery.

One thing however is certain; if the cubs hadn't been discovered when they were they would certainly have died.

RSPCA officer Greg Hagen added: "We are also worried about their mother as she could also be suffering."

The little foxes - called Buddy, Bobby, Tony, Elliot and Lulu - are now being looked after by Lyn Vaughan at her home in Surrey.

The kind volunteer fosters injured and orphaned foxes for the Fox Project Charity and is a pro when it comes to feeding hungry cubs.

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_3736377.html?menu=news.quirkies.animaltales

Zoo Keepers Rear Abandoned Antelope

7:10pm UK, Saturday January 23, 2010
Heather Christie, Sky News Online

The first Kirk's dik-dik antelope has been born at Chester Zoo, but because it was rejected by its mother, the keepers are stepping in to raise the baby.

Standing only a few centimetres tall, the female newborn was abandoned by her mother who gave her the cold shoulder during the recent big freeze.

While the zoo's keepers are looking after the youngster, they told Sky News that a reunion between mother and baby is not on the cards.

"It's probably unlikely, unfortunately. Mum stopped looking after her and keeping her warm, so we've had to do that instead," senior keeper Helen Massey told Sky News.

Ms Massey and her team are hand-rearing the unnamed baby. They are bottle feeding it milk five times a day until she is old enough to eat the species' regular diet of buds, shoots, and fruits.

The spindly-legged creature is also being fed hay and a nutritious concentrate.

"Kirk's dik-dik is one of the smaller of the antelope species but what they lack in stature, they make up for in appeal," she said.

"Our addition is growing stronger by the day and we hope she will be holding her own in the next few weeks."

Although the little one does not have a name yet, Ms Massey says her staff are working on one.

"We're hoping to decide on a name all together, we need to whole team to be here for that, though," she told Sky News.

Click here to see more pictures of the baby antelope.

A tiny species that looks like a pygmy deer, the Kirk's dik-dik is Native to Kenya, Tanzania, and Namibia and is named for the sound it makes when fleeing danger.

The Chester newborn, whose parents arrived to Britain in 2008, will grow to be about 40cm tall.

The female's parents came from Colchester and Hanover zoos.

See video at: http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/First-Kirks-Dik-Dick-Antelope-Is-Born-At-Chester-Zoo/Article/201001415534237?f=rss

Deaf fox cub learns sign language

AN ABANDONED deaf fox cub has apparently learned sign language from her 'Doctor Dolittle' owner. Devon animal lover Beth Tyler-King says she uses hand signals to get the fox to obey basic commands. 'To get her to sit, I put my palm out facing downwards to say "sit" and she does it. When she is being naughty I waggle my finger at her.' Ms Tyler-King was keen to adopt the cub as she too is deaf. 'She couldn't have come to a better person,' she said.

Metro Ireland, 17 December 2009, p4.

Hello Ducks! Lost your mum?

21 July 2009
By Gemma Collins

MARKET inspectors went ‘quackers’ when they spotted three tiny ducklings no more than two weeks old which had lost their mum.

Colleagues Susan Lewis and Sue Ironside were arriving for work in London’s famous Petticoat Lane when they spotted the three bedraggled little creatures shivering on the ground.

“We watched them for a while, waiting for the mother to come for them,” said Susan.

“But it was soon clear that they were distressed and had been abandoned.”

FREEZING

She added: “They were freezing and we were worried with all the City traffic that one of them would get run over.

“They were so tiny that the three of them fitted into the palm of my hand.”

It was a strange sight for the two market traders. There aren’t any parks or lakes in the middle of Whitechapel or Aldgate where they could have come from.

They took the three tiny ducklings to the market office in Wentworth Street nearby, where colleague David Christie helped feed them with bread soaked in water and wrapped them up warmly.

But sadly, one of the ducklings died. The RSPCA later collected the surviving ducklings.

http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/content/towerhamlets/advertiser/news/story.aspx?brand=ELAOnline&category=news&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=newsela&itemid=WeED21%20Jul%202009%2023%3A58%3A02%3A127