Visitors’ unique chance to see behind the doors at wildlife centre

RSPCA East Winch Wildlife Centre, Norfolk to host Open Day Sunday, 27 August 

The RSPCA East Winch Wildlife Centre in Norfolk is set to open its doors to the public for a special event on Sunday, 27 August

Visitors will have a rare chance to see behind the scenes at the wildlife hospital, speak with staff and take a sneaky peek at some of the animals.

The centre used to hold an open day once every two years, but has not hosted one since 2017 due to the pandemic, so this really is a rare opportunity for visitors to see and learn more about what happens inside a busy working RSPCA wildlife hospital.

There are currently 300 animals being cared for at the centre including seals, owls, hedgehogs, ducklings, fledgling garden birds.

Last year the centre dealt with just under 3,000 animal admissions.

As well as the chance to find out more about what goes on behind the scenes there will also be 50 stalls including hot food, produce and local crafts – there will also be raffles, tombolas, games, demonstrations and much more.

Refreshments will be available.

RSPCA Centre manager Evangelos Achilleos said: “We are really excited to be hosting our first Open Day for quite some time! During the event visitors will have the opportunity to see what goes on behind certain parts of the hospital doors and meet with our vets and staff and find out about the variety of rehabilitation work we do for the wildlife in our care. 

“The public will be able to see seal feeds through the visitor centre, and our intermediate pools, they will be able to enter our veterinary examination rooms, speak to vets and vet nurses on animal care, see X-rays and skeletons, see our staff weigh geese and ducks and also see staff feeding animals through windows in our orphan corridor. We will have a hedgehog trail, wildlife raffle, and lots of educational stands on wildlife care, to include seal entanglements, where you will get to see first hand the materials seals have been caught in along the coast. (Animals that can be seen are subject to the patients we have in at the time). 

“The people of Norfolk and the East region are so supportive of our centre and they are constantly visiting us with injured wildlife, and the open days are a chance for them to find out exactly what happens to the animals once they have been left with the RSPCA staff and volunteers.

“While we have to ensure that contact between the wildlife and humans is minimum, we now have a set of CCTV cameras set up around the hospital which means we can show more of the work we do, without disturbing the animals.” 

Staff will be on hand at various points at the centre to talk through the work we do with all the different species of wildlife they care for.

The open day will run from 10am until 4pm. Entry is £5 per car, or £5 family of 5 (cash is preferred for the entry fee only). 

Parking is free. No dogs, except assistance dogs.

If you would like to support the work of the centre you can visit their just giving page

East Winch has an Amazon wish list of items that are most in need, which can be found here:  https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/2QW97YL6JNRPQ 

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