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Episode 2 - Working as an Animal Rescue Officer with Lydia Andrews
35 Plays10 months ago
Welcome to Walk on the Wild Side, an RSPCA podcast. We’ll meet people from this 200-year-old animal welfare charity, and learn about what they do. We’ll discover more about the amazing wildlife all around us, and how we can help it thrive, and be inspired to get outdoors and into nature.
In this episode Holly Cushen takes a walk in the woods near RSPCA Newbrook Farm with Lydia Andrews, an RSPCA Animal Rescue Officer. So much of the RSPCA’s work is with people as much as with animals – our frontline workers collaborate with the public, agencies like Fire and Rescue, and specialist teams to help individual animals. They also help to educate people on how to look after both wildlife and pets. Lydia and Holly also chat about some memorable animal rescues, the need for a boat team in Birmingham, and the 200-year history of the RSPCA, and watch a film on how to make gardens inviting to wildlife.
Host: Holly Cushen
Writers: Holly Cushen and Morwenna Kearns
Producer: Morwenna Kearns
Audio producer: Chris Attaway
Wildlife advisor: Rebecca Machin
Executive producer: Sarah Millerick
Recorded on location at and around RSPCA Newbrook Farm in Birmingham
Wildlife advice: rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/wildlife
Wildlife in your garden video: youtube.com/watch?v=FiIJ3e52csA
Work for the RSPCA: jobs.rspca.org.uk/jobs/home
More information on how to get involved: rspca.org.uk/getinvolved/donate/audio
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Transcript
Introduction to RSPCA Podcast Series
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to the Walk on the Wild Side and RSPCA podcast. I'm Holly Cushion, an outreach officer at the ah RSPCA. Over this series, we'll meet some other people from this 200-year-old animal welfare charity and learn more about what they do. We'll discover more about the amazing wildlife all around us, how we can help it thrive and be inspired to get outdoors and into nature.
Meet Lydia Andrews, Animal Rescue Officer
00:00:31
Speaker
On this episode, we're chatting with Lydia Andrews about the life of an animal rescue officer. We'll talk about some of the memorable rescues she's been a part ah of and how we can help wildlife in your garden and in the wild.
00:00:51
Speaker
Today we're taking a walk in the woods near RSPCA Newbrook Farm in Birmingham with Animal Rescue Officer or ARO, Lydia Andrews. It's really nice to meet you, Lydia. Hello, nice to meet you too. So how long have you worked for the RSPCA and what first drew you to the charity? So I've been working for the RSPCA for a year and a half so far, but I really want to join the RSPCA because it's obviously the oldest animal welfare charity.
00:01:16
Speaker
ever, 200 years old. and I was bored of what I was doing before, working in like an office job and I really wanted to make a difference in the world and how animals, that's always been my passion. Yeah, I thought we're we're best to do it than the RSPCA after watching programmes growing up, like things like the dog rescuers, which everyone's seen. I just thought it'd be an amazing experience and career and here I am.
00:01:38
Speaker
couldn't agree with you more. It's definitely a very, very good place to work. Should we head on a little walk whilst ah we carry on? Yeah, let's go. Now do you mind your step because we are in the woods and it is very squelchy underfoot. It's been raining all morning, so if you can, just be careful.
A Day in the Life of an Animal Rescue Officer
00:01:55
Speaker
So I presume as an animal rescue officer, there's no normal day um working on the front line, but what might a typical day sort of look like for you? What sort of things do you expect?
00:02:05
Speaker
And as you say, every day is so different, but you can definitely expect in the morning to, you have to say hello to a manager and other team members on a web chat every morning. And obviously we all have our phones, which we get all of our jobs through every day. So that's one thing you can definitely count on. And then whatever's on your phone will vary very greatly. You might be going to rescue a wild animal. You might be going to perhaps a really serious inquiry.
00:02:33
Speaker
and they're all in different priorities, how quickly they've come in and how quickly we need to get out to them. So orders really vary, but you can definitely say that we're always going to help some sort of animal in need um and that we need to get there quite quickly. Definitely sounds a really, really rewarding role to have.
Rescue Stories: Muntjac Deer and First Boat Rescue
00:02:51
Speaker
I imagine you've attended in your 18 months so many rescues and ah different operations and things, but do you have a most memorable operation that will always sort of stay with you?
00:03:02
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, there are loads. My favourite wildlife one has just been just like a muntjac deer. He was caught in a farmer's electric fencing and obviously tried to get himself out, but in doing so, they obviously spin and get themselves so tight in this fencing.
00:03:20
Speaker
And when I arrived, I actually thought that the deer passed away because he was so still and so tightly wrapped in all of this fencing. But once I got close to him, started to touch him and have a look at where the fence had gone into him, he was actually still alive.
00:03:38
Speaker
and it hadn't gone in you know that deeply into his skin so I was able to then use you know my equipment and cut him out of all this fencing which was a very long job but he just sort of stayed there wasn't screaming as sometimes he do and I was able to help him and release him luckily in situ so I didn't have to take him in for rehabilitation or anything because obviously he wouldn't be able to rehabilitate a muntjac div because of them being an invasive species but um because of he had no injury so I could just let him go and I was just sort of on those really happy moments where it looked like the worst thing had happened and I was able just to release him it was a really nice job in the end
00:04:16
Speaker
and So, you know, you talk about these rescues and all sorts of different things that you you get up to and, you know, some of it sounds really quite a challenge, really challenging in work. So you must have something that sort of motivates you to get up and go to work every day. What is it that sort of sticks with you?
Motivations and Collaborations in Animal Rescue
00:04:32
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's how in this job you make a difference every day. So I think that alone, the impact that you have on every animal that you come into, you know, you're always having a positive impact, always trying to change something. So I think that alone just really motivates me to always do better. You know, if I don't go to work one day, I know that I'm missing out on that chance to help an animal and You know, and help help people's lives as well because there's a lot of people that also need help who have got these animals. So yeah, just always making that positive change. I find my biggest motivator. I think that's a big part of your work, isn't it? It's not just with, although you are an animal rescue officer, your primary sort of concern in in some situations is the animals, but it's a lot to do with working with people as well, isn't it?
00:05:19
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, for sure. It's, um you know, when animals get into these awful situations, it's not always as click as it seems that, you know, someone's being horrible or that, you know, someone's deliberately got them into the situation. There's, you know, so many of the factors that come into it that you can't see just on the level surface, you know, and it's about helping those people and helping them not to get into a situation again and work with them as much as possible.
00:05:47
Speaker
It's very similar to my role. ah My role at the RSPCA is I'm an outreach officer. So a lot of my role is you know going in and and trying to work with adults and young people too in schools or community groups. And it's really ah about offering you know education and allowing them the skills and knowledge to be able to feel empowered to make a change. And I suppose that's fairly similar to your role too.
00:06:12
Speaker
Yeah, I think what you're doing is so important because helping children which are, you know, the generation of tomorrow, the people that we see coming up owning their own animals, having that positive impact on them at the young age, you know, is so important. Most definitely.
00:06:38
Speaker
So as an animal rescue officer, you can specialise in various areas, so things like wildlife, equine, water rescue, things like that. Have you ever had the opportunity to get involved in anything like that?
00:06:49
Speaker
yeah so about a month ago and i did my first boat rescue i was able to accompany the boat team on it was a situation where there was an oil leak inside a lake and we got a quite a lot of press at the time because all the birds obviously when people were going around walking the dog they saw these birds covered in black oil and which you know looks horrific so that's why obviously we've got so many calls to it and rightly so so i went out in the boat with them and the boat team we try to catch as many of these birds as possible. This one is ones where they can be covered in it but still can obviously fly quite normally at first so it's unfortunately waiting for them to get a bit more ill with it and not able to move as well sometimes for us to be able to catch them but that was quite an interesting job I suppose being able to go out on the boat on a lake and which I've not done before
00:07:42
Speaker
That's so interesting because obviously we're really inland here in Birmingham I wouldn't have thought that sort of water rescues and things like that would take place here. ah Exactly you wouldn't expect it we're not exactly near and any seaside or anything but obviously when we do need to get into the middle of these lakes go into islands in the middle that's the only way we can do it so yeah that's why we've got our boat team.
00:08:04
Speaker
So it sounds like you've got a really intense job to do on your own sometimes and so do you ever work in collaboration with like external agencies? Yeah, definitely. We have to, a lot of the time, draw on other charities, but also with the public bodies such as the fire and rescue team. ah So, for example, the other week I had a situation where in someone's house, they'd got on the eaves on the house mended because it was broken. And then we didn't realise there was obviously nesting birds in there. And then once they'd left,
00:08:37
Speaker
the person living at the address noticed that obviously the mum and dad came back to feed their babies and they couldn't get in. They tried to call that contractor out but they couldn't because it was out of hours so they ended up having to phone ourselves. Obviously we went out and could see clearly what had happened and obviously it's under the Wildlife and Countryside Act that you can't you know interrupt nests ever. So they did they should have come back out but in this case they obviously couldn't so We had to get the fire and rescue team out because it was so high we haven't got ladders that can reach that high or the facilities to obviously cut out this plastic that was there but they were able to do it and then we we waited and we could see that the mum and dad were going back ready to feed their babies again so that was a really nice outcome.
00:09:22
Speaker
Yeah, I imagine that was really nice to see as well, back reunited with their families, which is nice.
Fun and Reflections: Superpowers and RSPCA's History
00:09:27
Speaker
i um I really, really want to ask you, if you were to have an animal rescuing superpower, what would it be and why? and I think it might sound obvious, but I think I'd probably be able to speak to animals, you know. Like Dr. Doolittle. Dr. Doolittle, yeah, exactly. Because then, you know, you walk into a house and No matter what someone said, you could just ask the animal straight away, couldn't you? Is this the truth? Yeah, what's happened? What's been going on? How are you feeling? And then that would be a lot easier, wouldn't it? And then when you're rehabilitating them, ask them how they're feeling, but they're happy. They're feeling better. Yeah, exactly. Ready to go out into the big wide world again. Yeah, exactly. Well, the sky is definitely getting a little bit grey now and I think that rain from this morning might come back. So should we head back to the centre? Yeah, let's go back.
00:10:31
Speaker
So we're back from our walk now and we're stood in the education garden here in front of this amazing mural that was actually painted by a group of young people with the support of an artist and it shows the 200 years of history at the RSPCA.
00:10:46
Speaker
starting in 1824, which is a really, really important year. Of course, that means that the RSPCA formed 200 years ago, and it was actually formed by the SPCA, is what we were called. So we itch actually didn't get our R, which stands for Royal, until Queen Victoria gave her permission to add the Royal onto it in 1840.
00:11:08
Speaker
but there's so many sort of different elements that has formed our history over these years and there's a lovely picture of a horse that's painted just on the mural just here. um I can see that that is 1914, which seems a really long time ago, but that was when the ah RSPCA Fund for Sick and Wounded Horses was set up during World War I. Lydia, do you ever deal with horses?
00:11:32
Speaker
Yeah, we we get um horse jobs here in the Midlands, often if they're underweight or in living in environments that aren't clear for them. You know, a lot of like things like broken fences which people don't fix, things like that we get called out to. We're very lucky we have them equine offices that we can always call on. It's obviously a very specialised animal, you know, so it's it's really lucky that we can draw on people like that to help us when we get those jobs.
00:11:55
Speaker
It's really great that you've got such a huge team and everybody sort of maybe specialises in different animals or has a specific interest in the care of a certain animal and you can, like you say, draw on that expertise, really, really great. i If we move a little bit further forward, we get to 2006. Now, in 2006, that was when the Animal Welfare Act was passed, and which offered significantly more protection for four animals and I presume that's actually um an act that you rely on quite heavily in your job, Lydia.
The Role of the Animal Welfare Act
00:12:24
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. So the Animal Welfare Act comes into play when, you know, if we need to, because obviously we've got no powers of entry, so if we need to go into somewhere to help an animal ah with police, and we always have to find out what our reasoning for doing that, and that will always come underneath the Animal Welfare Act. It's obviously how we we how we try and word it to people that they're not doing the right thing by the animal, and we refer back to the Animal Welfare Act, so it comes into play in my job a lot.
00:12:50
Speaker
I'm right in the corner here. We've got our five values. We've got commitment, inspiration, compassionate, integrity and expert. And that is sort of embedded into everything that we do here at the ah RSPCA, no matter what your role is. And over 200 years, we've been a voice for animals. And I don't know about you, Lydia, but I don't plan on stopping anytime soon. No, definitely not. It's a job which you don't get into just to shut off when you go home. And, you know, it's a way of life, isn't it? And something that you're really passionate about. So, no, definitely not.
00:13:20
Speaker
So it actually has just started to rain now. So should we head back inside? We've got a video that we can watch. It's actually a way more recent one than others. It's from 2012 and it's all about encouraging wildlife into your garden. Sounds interesting. Back after this.
00:13:41
Speaker
Here at the ah RSPCA, we believe everyone can play a vital role in helping animals, from sponsored runs to making a donation. No matter how much time you can spare, we've got ways you can get involved. Join us, everyone for every kind. Help animals your way and click more info now.
00:14:08
Speaker
The RSPCA has been around since 1824 and it's amazing to look back and see how much we've achieved over the past two centuries. We've got a huge archive of films, sound recordings, photographs, newspaper clippings and magazines. So let's dig in now.
Wildlife-Friendly Gardening Tips
00:14:25
Speaker
There's a number of different ways in which you can attract wildlife to your garden. One way is to leave areas that are completely untouched. So things like piles of leaf litter or you can use um log piles. You can actually pile things up against the wall. So behind me you'll see a classic example of what and would be a typical hedgehog habitat. They can go in and forage around for the kind of food that they like which are invertebrates. So these are insects, earthworms and little grubs as well. Anything that you don't really like a hedgehog will probably love. A lot of people forget that wildlife actually need water and it's very very important to make sure that it's always fresh and it's always clean. So wash out your water bowls very very thoroughly before you refill them and always dry them before you refill them. This means that there won't be any build up of bacteria or anything that can make the animals sick.
00:15:16
Speaker
Make sure that the bowls are nice and shallow as well because small animals like hedgehogs might actually fall in and drown. Now on that note, a pond is a fantastic environment for wildlife and in a pond, in your average garden pond, you will find hundreds and hundreds of different organisms living there. Anything from insects to fish to amphibians such as toads and frogs.
00:15:39
Speaker
But what you do have to remember is that a pond can be a very very dangerous place for small mammals. So always make sure that on the edge of your pond you have a couple of bricks or some stones that make it easy for a small mammal to escape from the pond if they fall in. Otherwise you can actually buy grids from your garden centre as well.
00:15:59
Speaker
So we're back in the Education Centre now and we've just watched a fantastic video all about how to encourage wildlife into our garden and there's some really great top tips there. Is there anything else, Lydia, that you think might be helpful for our listeners? Yeah, I think um creating habitats in your garden and can be quite easy so leaving some areas for unknown lawn for insects and small mammals and sometimes birds, they can use them to hide from predators. You can make things such as bird boxes, insect hotels and you can find how to make those easily online.
00:16:34
Speaker
and A bit of advice I'd give would be about perhaps keeping an eye on your dog around the summer, spring time. Obviously hedgehogs are only small creatures and they could well be in your garden or out in Woodlands where you take your dog walking. So keeping an eye on them because I've seen some accidents where a dog's perhaps got hold of a hedgehog which can be quite severe obviously. and So just making sure that you're always monitoring your dog and perhaps keeping them on a lead in these wild areas.
00:16:59
Speaker
I can imagine as well that it's not just you know that dogs that that might have have a problem with that situation it could also be the wildlife as well and vice versa. I imagine if a dog picked up a hedgehog in its mouth it would be very spiky and probably very uncomfortable but equally it could do quite a lot of damage to the hedgehog too so it's being mindful from both sides of the of the story too. Yeah exactly so obviously they're wild animals and if if your dog is going going near them and being with them you can expect paps sometimes to fight back and as you say hedgehogs are very prickly and if your dog was to attack hedgehog they would have new needles in their mouth so things like that you've got to protect your own animal as well and make sure they don't get hurt by things like badgers and foxes as well.
Episode Closure and Acknowledgments
00:17:46
Speaker
Well thank you so much Lydia for joining us I've really had a fantastic time learning all about your role and about what you do at the RSPCA as well so thank you very much for for joining us. Okay thank you for having me.
00:18:02
Speaker
Thanks for listening to the RSPCA Walk on the Wild Side podcast. It was presented by me, Holly Cushion, written by myself and Moenna Kearns, and produced by Chris Attaway and Moenna Kearns. Our wildlife expert was Rebecca Machen. The executive producer was Sarah Millerick. Special thanks to RSPCA Newbrook Farm and RSPCA Molly Damswood, all of our guests and everyone else who helped put this podcast together.
00:18:30
Speaker
To learn more about getting involved with the RSPCA, click on the link in the show notes or search ah RSPCA Wildlife Podcast or visit rspca.org.uk.