Wildlife hospital keeps rescued animals wild
MAISONS-ALFORT, France—A wildlife hospital just outside Paris is a place of no cuddles but lots of care, as it helps injured, sick and orphaned animals heal, so they can return to their natural habitat.
A female fox cub was found alone last week in a garden here in Maisons-Alfort, a commune southeast of the French capital. A team of volunteers now takes care of her round the clock.
“We’ll make sure she’s eating well,” animal caretaker Valentin Delon said. “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—often victims of human activity and increasing urbanization—including a wide variety of birds and mammals such as foxes, deer and hedgehogs.
Maisons-Alfort is the headquarters of the country’s oldest veterinary institution, the National Veterinary School of Alfort, founded in 1765. The school began supporting the hospital in 1993.
As many as 60 to 80 percent of admissions are victims of road collisions, or were caught in barbed wire or injured by people using gardening tools or agricultural machinery, among other causes.
Keeping a distance
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.
Delon said he and the other caretakers see to it the animals do not become attached to them.
The baby fox, found by residents who own hunting dogs, was estimated to be about 2 weeks old and deemed too young to survive on her own.
Aside from a minor injury, possibly caused by a wild animal or a dog’s bite, she was found to be in good health, said veterinarian Julie Piazza, who examined her.
Once healed, the animals are transferred to outdoor enclosures and aviaries to prepare for a reintroduction into their natural environment.
“So we don’t cuddle them, we don’t talk to them,” she said. “There’s really a distance to maintain for their own good in the end, so they can be released later.”
Funded by donations
Once she is old enough, the baby fox will first be transferred to a rehabilitation center, then placed with other foxes in an enclosure.
“We can’t just release her into the wild like that,” Delon said. “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 run by nonprofit group Faune Alfort is the only facility in the greater Paris area that treats a wide range of wild species.
It is mostly financed by donations from individuals and charities and relies on volunteers to help feed and care for the animals.
