Irish Wildlife Rehabilitation Conference 2010

 

21st August - Veterinary Professionals, CPD event - 5 CVE credits

22nd August - Open Attendance, all welcome!

 

Price: see 'Registration and Payment' page

 

Back to IWM Website: www.irishwildlifematters.ie

 

Programme – 21st August 2010

	08.45	Registration & Coffee
	09.15	Welcome address
Session 1	09.30	Mammal rescue and first aid		Joanna Hedley
	10.10	Otter rescue and first aid		Grace Yoxon
	10.50	Coffee
Session 2	11.20	Bat rescue and first aid		Maggie Brown
	12.00	NPWS licences and legislation
	12.20	Bird rescue and first aid		John Chitty
	13.00	Lunch
Session 3	14.00	Practical capture, handling and first aid for mammals **		Joanna Hedley & Grace Yoxon
	15.10	Coffee
Session 4	15.30	Practical capture, handling and first aid for birds and bats **		John Chitty &  Maggie Brown
	16.45 – 17.00	The development of the ‘Irish Wildlife Rehabilitation Trust’		Emma Higgs

 

Evening Session and wine reception
Venue: Best Western Boyne Valley Hotel & Country Club

	19.00	"A voyage to the Antarctic"	Jim Wilson
	19.30	Wine Reception & Boyle’s Band

** Please note that, due to the stress involved, casualty assessments cannot be done on live casualties. Cadavers will be used for this session, which also provide a much better opportunity to examine all parts of the animal.

 

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Programme – 22nd  August 2010

	08.45	Registration & Coffee
	09.15	Welcome address
Session 1	09.20	NPWS role in rehabilitation		Ann Fitzpatrick
	09.40	Mammal rescue and first aid		Joanna Hedley
	10.20	Otter rescue and first aid		Grace Yoxon
	11.00	Coffee
Session 2	11.20	Bat rescue and first aid		Maggie Brown
	12.00	Bird rescue and first aid		John Chitty
	12.40	Lunch
Session 3	13.40	Practical capture, handling and first aid for mammals **		Joanna Hedley & Grace Yoxon
	14.50	Coffee
Session 4	15.10	Practical capture, handling and first aid for birds and bats **		John Chitty &  Maggie Brown
	16.10	Raptor Rescue		Steve Davidson
	16.50 – 17.00	The development of the ‘Irish Wildlife Rehabilitation Trust’		Emma Higgs

 

Evening Session and wine reception
Venue: Best Western Boyne Valley Hotel & Country Club

	19.00	"Ireland's Garden Birds"	Jim Wilson
	19.30	Wine Reception & Boyle’s Band

** Please note that, due to the stress involved, casualty assessments cannot be done on live casualties. Cadavers will be used for this session, which also provide a much better opportunity to examine all parts of the animal.

The IWRC reserves the right to change or amend the arrangements without prior notice

 

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GUEST SPEAKERS

• John Chitty
  

Qualified Royal Veterinary College, London 1990
Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons’ Certificate in Zoological Medicine 2000

Publications include… co-editor of BSAVA Manual of Psittacine Birds 2nd Edition and BSAVA Manual of Raptors Pigeons and Passerine Birds

Co-editor of Journal of the Association of Exotic Mammal Veterinarians
Numerous book chapters/ papers

UK representative to the Board of Directors of the Association of Avian Veterinarians (AAV). Secretary to the European Board of the AAV. Scientific Chair of European Avian Veterinarians Conference 2009
Member of Board of Directors of AAV 2009-12
Former chair of British Wildlife Rehabilitation Council

Veterinary Consultant to five zoological collections and the Great Bustard reintroduction project

President of the Veterinary Invertebrate Society

 

• Joanna Hedley
  

Jo graduated from the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies in 2003, and has had a varied clinical background since graduation, having developed a first opinion and referral service in exotic pets in clinical practice, worked in a number of wildlife hospitals and performed voluntary work for wildlife charities abroad.

She started her residency in Exotic Animal and Wildlife Medicine at the R(D)SVS in
January 2009 where she works alongside the rest of the Exotic animal and Wildlife team.

• Grace Yoxon
  

Rehabilitator, International Otter Survival Fund, UK

“I have been working in rehabilitation since the 1980s. We set up the Skye Environmental Centre on the Isle of Skye in 1985. In 1988 we received our first otter and with the outbreak of the Phocine Distemper Virus, I went to RSPCA Norfolk Wildlife Hospital, to learn the basics of seal rearing and treatment.

In 1993 we set up the International Otter Survival Fund, and since then we have helped with many different projects in relation to otters worldwide. Our wildlife hospital now specialises in rearing and treating otters, although we will take any wildlife casualty.

To date we have reared over 100 otter cubs.  We also provide help and advice for people working in otter rehab abroad including Bangladesh, Cambodia, Canada, Ecuador, Chile, Guyana, Nigeria, Portugal, Indonesia and even Ireland.  At present we are helping with a rare Congo Clawless otter in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

I have also been responsible for organising the WildCare Forum for rehabilitators that has been held in Inverness since 1991, and I became a member of the British Wildlife Rehabilitation Council Steering Committee in 2004."

 

• Maggie Brown
  

Rehabilitator, West Yorkshire Bat Hospital, UK

In the last 20 years I've done a varied mixture of conservation work, bat education, survey work, study and training.

I began caring for bats in 1986. I got involved in running the West Yorkshire Bat Group and we established West Yorkshire Bat Hospital. Discussions with people rescuing other wildlife led to the establishment, in 1993, of a newsletter; ‘Bat Care News’. The newsletter was a means of sharing ideas and information between bat workers in the North East of England.

In 2005 we produced a manual of bat rescue, the ‘Bat Care News Bat Rescue Manual’, to share what has been learned by bat carers in the UK.
In 2006 when I retired from teaching I studied young bats learning to fly in the RSPCA flight cage to determine whether they were able to catch their own food. This led to the release and monitoring of hand reared bats.

Immediately following that I studied for an MSC in Biodiversity and Conservation. Having had a chance to study aspects of bat biology in depth I am now researching aspects of bat rehabilitation.

 

• Steve Davidson
  

Rehabilitator, Raptor Rescue, UK

Raptor Rescue is a registered Charity that was founded over 30 years ago in the North West of England.

It is the UK’s Leading Specialist Bird of Prey and Owl Rehabilitation Organisation dedicated to ensuring that all sick and injured birds of prey are cared for by suitably qualified persons and whenever possible released back into the wild.

Steve and Carol Davidson joined Raptor Rescue in October 2003. The following year they were elected onto the Board of Trustees. Carol took on the role of treasurer, a post she still holds today.

In 2005 Steve became Vice Chairman and Newsletter Editor. In 2008 Steve took on the role of secretary and in 2009 he was elected as Chairman.

 

• Ann Fitzpatrick
  

National Parks and Wildlife Service Ranger

 

• Jim Wilson
  

Jim comes from Cobh, County Cork and is a well known ornithologist and ecologist with more than 35 years of bird watching and wildlife experience in Ireland, Europe, Africa, and the Antarctic.

He is a full-time freelance wildlife consultant, author, broadcaster and wildlife filmmaker. He has produced or co-produced a number of books and DVDs including Shorebirds of Ireland, Ireland's Garden Birds, Whales and Dolphins of Ireland and The Bats of Ireland.

Jim is heavily involved in wildlife conservation in Ireland and was national chairman of Birdwatch Ireland. Amongst other things he is currently coordinating the recently established International Schools Godwit Project.

 

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