Month: January 2019

Wadars staff nominated in national charity awards

Two members of Wadars staff have this month been nominated for Employee of the Year in the Petplan & ADCH Animal Charity Awards 2019.

Senior Animal Rescue Officer, Billy Elliot, and Operations Manager, Tracy Cadman, have both received nominations for the award, which will be decided later in the year.

Tracy, who has been at the charity for three years said; “Being recognised for our work is very humbling. Billy has been with Wadars for over 20 years now and alongside our other rescue officers does an amazing job, often in difficult circumstances. Being nominated in our 50th anniversary year makes it extra special”

 Wadars has previously won the Animal Heroes and Charity of the Year categories in the Herald & Gazette Community Stars Awards.

Caring for our feathered friends for 50 years

Over the last 50 years Wadars animal rescue charity has dealt with many thousands of wild and domestic animals and birds and last year alone it responded to calls from concerned members of the public relating to more than 1,350 wildlife casualties. A large proportion of the calls are about sick or injured birds, which can range in size from small garden birds to large birds of prey and swans.

Each year between late May and September, Wadars Animal Rescue Officers spend much of their time responding to calls about young seagulls that have fallen from roof tops. In 2018 Wadars rescue officers, supported by a team of trained wildlife volunteers, responded to callouts to more than 600 seagull chicks.

Wherever possible rescue officers will return the gull chicks back onto the roof that they fell from as they stand a much better chance of survival with their parents than coming into a wildlife centre.

A few weeks before Christmas Wadars animal rescue officer Julie Brewer was called to a local garage to assist with a buzzard which had flown full pelt into the grill of a van that was travelling on the motorway near Portsmouth.

Despite the bird being well and truly jammed into the grill of the van, the driver continued on to Worthing before he realised what had happened. Rescue officer, Julie was able to help cut it free and then took it along to a local vet where it was thoroughly checked over for any injuries.

 X-rays revealed that nothing was broken and after a short period of recuperation, the buzzard was eventually released by Wadars back into the area that it originally came from. 

Runaway tortoises and stowaway snakes – all in a day’s work for Wadars!

Worthing based Wadars animal rescue is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and over the coming weeks we are supporting the celebrations by highlighting just some of the many hundreds of stories that the charity has to tell. One such story involved a tortoise who was found straying on the M25 back in September 2009.

Freeway as he was named by staff at Wadars, was spotted in the fast lane of the motorway during rush hour by a commuter who was on his way home to Worthing. Having first assumed he was looking at a piece of debris, the driver very quickly realised that it was moving and pulled his car onto the hard shoulder before running 400 yards back along the road to rescue the tortoise. The gentleman then dropped the tortoise off at a vet in Worthing, who gave it a check over and then handed it across to Wadars to be cared for. Sadly, despite attempts to trace his owners no one came forward and Freeway was eventually adopted by the vet that had checked him over when he first arrived in Worthing.

Another story involved a local couple who purchased a suitcase from Argos in preparation for their forthcoming holiday. The large suitcase came in an even larger cardboard box, and when the couple got home and opened it up, they were greeted by a four-foot-long corn snake! The startled couple then called Wadars, and animal rescue officer Billy Elliot, went along to collect the snake. It was eventually handed over to a specialist reptile rescue centre who cared for it until it could be found a suitable new home. 

In order to help raise much needed funds during its 50th anniversary, Wadars will be staging a number of events and activities including its annual Walk for Wadars sponsored walk. The 5-mile route for the event, which is entirely flat and so suitable for young and old alike, starts on Goring Gap Green next to the Sea Lane Café, and goes right along the seafront to Worthing Pier and back.

This year Walk for Wadars will take place on Sunday 12th May. The event is free to enter, and participants are asked to raise sponsorship for the charity. Wadars Operations Manager Tracy Cadman said; “We don’t have a set level of sponsorship for people to raise, and some participants do raise hundreds of pounds, but being our 50th anniversary we will be encouraging as many people as possible to try and raise at least £50 for us – that said, every penny helps!”

To enter Walk for Wadars, call the charity on 01903 247111 or log onto www.wadars.co.uk and search for Walk for Wadars.