The Wildlife Veterinary Investigation Centre

Veterinary pathologist Vic Simpson has begun his "retirement" by setting up Britain's first ever Wildlife Veterinary Investigation Centre, in partnership with the Cornwall Wildlife Trust. Here he sets out his aims and offers you an unusual - but very effective - opportunity to help advance conservation.

I have set up the Wildlife VIC with three main objectives:

• To investigate incidents of wildlife mortality, such as where numbers of animals are reported dead or dying.

• To monitor the health status of wildlife, especially those species in decline or threatened.

• To examine healthy specimens and build a database of normal values. These would include things like body weight, organ size, tissue trace element levels and blood counts.

Progress to date

Since opening last autumn the Wildlife VIC has received 83 specimens, including dormice and water voles from Hampshire and barbastelle and lesser horseshoe bats from Cornwall.

Post-mortem examinations have been carried out on 35 specimens, including 15 otters, five buzzards, a barn owl, a peregrine falcon and a bittern. The peregrine and one buzzard had been shot. Three buzzards, the bittern and most of the otters were road traffic casualties.

Salmonellosis was diagnosed as the cause of death in a greenfinch from a garden where three or four were dying each week.

Vic has made many important discoveries in his career. His examinations of owls, raptors, mammals and other creatures are currently limited by lack of funds. Can anyone help?

Photo: Jane Simpson