Unfortunately we had some bad news this week. Patch 1 of the ferrets passed away. It was not unexpected due to her age. She was over 8years old and they say the average life expectancy for a ferret is 8 years. Patch and her sister Fatty had been with me from when I started my business. She was a great working ferret when you put her down a rabbit warren. Very easy to handle as she would never bite. I am expecting Fatty her sister to pass away in the next few weeks as I got the two of them together. RIP Patch.
I forgot to mention in last weeks blog that on Tuesday 2nd November I had my 6 monthly vet inspection. This is different to the 1 i had at the end of August. That inspection was by the council vet. This 1 was by the vet that i use if the birds are unwell or have an injury. It is part of my zoo licence conditions that he visits the centre every 6 months to check on the birds, ferrets and the centre. He goes round the centre and i just mention how all the birds and ferrets are doing. It is a chance for him to check anything that has been to see the him in the last 6 months. We had a chat about Artemis the Steppe Eagle and what we can do to try and stop her from laying an egg next year -implant or medication? Not sure on that 1 yet. We checked on Patch and Fatty the 2 elderly ferrets and commented on how well and lively Patch looked. She passed away 48 hours later. We also had a look at Dylan the Barn Owl. I have noticed for a while that he sometimes misjudges his landing on the glove when called (some days he is worse than others) and he always used to land perfectly. Also he sometimes seems to struggle to find food if it has been left in his aviary. I spoke to the vet about this 18 months ago and he checked his eyes and said they were fine. I had noticed that he seemed to be getting worse and really struggles some days. I asked the vet to check his eyes again. This time he said he could see pigmentation of the retina which basically means that Dylan is going blind. The vet couldn't tell me how long he has got and there is nothing that can be done for him. He probably doesn't even realise that he is going blind due to the nature of it. I have decided to get Alba the other barn owl flying again and only use Dylan as back up over the winter. I will get another young barn owl in the spring to replace Dylan. As to what I do with Dylan. I will probably retire him. It is unfair to ask him to keep flying in bookings with his eyesight failing. I do realise that at some point I will have to make a decision to have him put down when his eyesight starts to get really bad and he can't find the food or see perches in his aviary. I feel I owe Dylan a lot. He was another original member of the team and worked really hard for me doing all sorts in the first few years when i started the business and trying to get established. He was a bit of a handful at the start but settled down and was always very reliable.
On a more positive note the inspection went very well and the vet was happy with everything and everyone in the centre.
In my last post I said i was going to try and get out and fly Amber for myself as it was quiet. I did manage to get out with her but only on 1 day. I had 2 free days to fly her and it rained on 1 of them so there was no chance to go out. I did get a few hours on the other day. She had a half chance at a rabbit and followed on well for the time that we were out.
I also had another school visit this week. Slightly different talk to the normal ones - owls or birds of prey. This 1 was on flight and to a P6 class. I normally have to do the talks to P3 or P4. I took Gigha the Peregrine, Kyle the Buzzard, Corrie the European Eagle Owl and Dylan. I flew Dylan in the school hall and he was great. His eyesight seems to have good days and bad at the moment. More good than bad but as I said i don't know for how much longer. I also make a point of calling a lot more when he is flying so he knows where I am.
The weekend was spent doing bookings. Pele a Harris Hawk took the opportunity to catch another rabbit at Cameron House when we were doing a booking over there. So there was some more good news.
Hope the coming week brings better news than last week.
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