Over the past year, the Maisons-Alfort Wildlife Veterinary Hospital has cared for more than 10,400 wild animals.
Last week, a female fox cub was found alone in a garden on the outskirts of Paris, with no sign of her mother nearby. Now a team of volunteers takes care of her around the clock at the Wildlife Veterinary Hospital in Maisons-Alfort, near the French capital.
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“We’ll make sure she’s eating well,” says animal caretaker Valentin Delon. “If that’s not the case, we might provide supplemental bottles to ensure she gains enough weight.”
Over the past year, the Wildlife Veterinary Hospital has taken in more than 10,400 wild animals, including a wide variety of birds and European mammals such as foxes, deer and hedgehogs.
Like the little brown-furred cub, the animals can easily capture a caretaker's heart – but bonding with humans is not an option when the goal is to eventually return them to the wild.
The fox cub was found by local residents with hunting dogs. Estimated to be around two weeks old, she was far too young to survive on her own.
At the Maisons-Alfort hospital, veterinarian Julie Piazza carefully examined her: aside from a minor injury, possibly caused by a wild animal or a dog bite, she was found to be in good health.
The cub was fed artificial milk – a product matching the composition of animal-produced milk – and because of that, her abdomen was swollen, explains Piazza.
"That’s common in a young one that has had a disruption in its diet,” she adds.
Reintroduction to the wild is gradual
Once healed, the animals are transferred to outdoor enclosures or aviaries to prepare for a reintroduction into their natural environment.
Delon, the caretaker, says that “any kind of imprinting” – measures that attach the animals to their caregiver long-term – must be avoided.
“So we don’t cuddle them, we don’t talk to them,” she says. "There’s really a distance to maintain for their own good in the end, so they can be released later.”
Because the fox is just a cub, once she grows sufficiently, she will first be transferred to a rehabilitation centre and placed with other foxes in an enclosure.
“We can’t just release her into the wild like that,” Delon says. “She really needs to go into an enclosure first, and then gradually we’ll open the door so she can come and go while still being fed. Then we’ll gradually reduce the food, and that’s how we achieve a truly gradual release.”
The hospital treats a wide range of wild species
The hospital run by the Faune Alfort nonprofit is the only facility in the greater Paris area that treats a wide range of wild species. Some 86 per cent of its patients are birds.
Last week, there was a swan with a broken wing, injured hedgehogs, dozens of ducklings, which are often found on balconies and elsewhere without parents, and lots of pigeons, which are treated just as carefully as rarer birds.
Elisa Mora, head of communications for Faune Alfort, says a record 200 admissions were reported in a single day last summer.
The hospital is mostly financed by donations from individuals and charities, and relies on volunteers to help feed and care for the animals.
April to September is the "juvenile period when wild animals reproduce” and the admissions peak, Mora says.
“Wild animals are already vulnerable, but juveniles even more so,” she says. Those too badly injured or unable to return to the wild have to be euthanised.
The vast majority of animals brought to the hospital – as many as 60 per cent to 80 per cent of admissions – are victims of road collisions, animals caught in barbed wire or injured by people using gardening tools or agricultural machinery, among other causes.
Veterinarian Jean-François Courreau launched Faune Alfort in 1987, inspired by students willing to better treat wild animals. Six years later, the idea turned into a proper hospital, hosted by the National Veterinary School of Alfort, established in the 18th century.
“It’s hard to stand by helplessly in front of an animal in distress without being able to do anything," Courreau says, adding that it's his duty to help as a vet.
When people find a wild animal in distress, they think “I can’t do anything, and the animal is going to die," he says. "So when they know a care centre exists and that they can bring the animal there, it’s a huge relief.”
