Brian recovering with Jodie
A STARVING buzzard who was saved from being pecked to death has been adopted by a celebrity glamour model turned animal rescuer.
The bird of prey was saved by Jean Wills-Taylor near Castlehaven Road on Monday after she heard squawking and found it being attacked by crows.
“I had to fight the birds off, they were that aggressive. He literally let himself be picked up. It was so exhausted that it couldn’t even defend itself,” Ms Wills-Taylor said.
Ms Wills-Taylor later discovered bird-watchers in Camden had been trying to catch the buzzard for three weeks.
“They reckon if it hadn’t been caught [on Monday], it would have died… in actual fact, the bullying of the bird saved its life,” Ms Wills-Taylor said.
Brian was found in Camden Town
The yellow-beaked raptor was collected in a “pet Uber” by a wildlife rescue service in Hertfordshire before being taken to Fripps Farm, an East Sussex animal sanctuary run by the celebrity model, TV personality and animal rescuer, Jodie Marsh.
Ms Marsh, who has christened the buzzard “Brian”, spoke to the New Journal as she was trying to feed her newest patient a dead mouse.
“Oh my God, he’s swallowing the mouse while I’m on the phone to you,” she said. “I’ve got him to swallow the mouse. Come on! All that’s sticking out now is the two back feet.”
According to Ms Marsh, Brian is currently very lethargic and underweight.
“I’m just trying to work out what’s wrong with him, whether he’s in a bit of shock. He’s quite happily sitting on my lap at the moment, and of course a wild bird would be flapping about and trying to escape. And he’s not, so he’s definitely poorly,” she said.
Jodie Marsh is feeding the buzzard mice to get its strength up
Brian is so weak that Ms Marsh has taken her protective gloves off while she cares for him.
“It could be that this one was hand-reared, and somebody let him go,” she said. “I’m hoping if I can get a couple of mice into him, I think he might perk up a bit. Once he’s on the recovery road, we’ll then move him into a large aviary, because he will then need to build up his wing muscles, because obviously he hasn’t been flying.
“Once he’s built his wing muscles in the aviary and they’re strong and we know he’s eating properly, we’ll release him into the countryside.:
Rescuer Jean Wills-Taylor saved Brian’s life
Ms Marsh started her animal sanctuary in 2020 following the death of her mother. “I realised that life was too short,” she said.
“I’ve wanted an animal sanctuary my whole life, it’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.” She has rescued hundreds of animals, including meerkats, emus, skunks, alpacas, as well as owls and other birds of prey. The farm is run entirely on donations.
“People wanting to donate, the best thing to do is go to frippsfarm.co.uk, where there are five or six different way to donate,” she said. “It’s so important we get help and people support us, because we couldn’t do this without public support.”
