Yet again we have had the emotional job of dealing with an animal caught in a perfectly legal, supposedly humane, snare.

We were called to a badger in a wood near Winchcombe. It was the landowner who called us after he came across the animal trapped at the base of a tree. I don't think that he was aware that it was a snare but we confirmed this when we arrived on scene. The poor thing had been desperately trying to free himself for days and you can see in the picture below where he has excavated a trench around him where he has been struggling to free himself. He had been there for several days and his wounds were badly infected.

The snare itself was a free-running type, perfectly legal to use for rabbits, foxes etc. However, snares must be set with the landowners permission and they must be checked at least once every 24 hours. In this case the landowner had not given permission and the snare could not possibly have been checked for days.

Sadly, but not surprisingly, we had no option but to end the badger's suffering.

We have to deal with the horrific injuries caused by snares all too often and have many photographs of the suffering they cause.

How can something that causes this still be legal?

Snares must be banned - now!!

We are campaigning for a ban on snares in England. Please show your support by voting at http://t.co/rqurQa1P

More information about snares and the suffering they cause can be found on the National Anti Snare Campaign (NASC) at http://www.antisnaring.org.uk/

If you find a snare, please report it here http://www.snarewatch.org/

It's been a busy day today. Amongst others we have had: a wild boar piglet, a robin (attacked by a rottweiller!!!), 2 foxes, a little owl that was hit by a car and a blackbird which was caught by a cat.

One of the foxes had been shot! See the photo of the x-ray below. How can using a shotgun to shoot a fox be considered humane? The poor animal was suffering from septicaemia, was very thin, had jaundice and one eye had been damaged by the shot.

He had obviously been suffering for some considerable time.

Yet another hedgehog in with a Royal Mail elastic band embedded in it!!

Apparently the Royal Mail use 2 million of these elastic bands every day and I shudder to think how many animals get caught in these but never get found. This hedgehog is one of the lucky ones....how many suffer an agonising death because of our littering?

Latest picture of Bela the otter cub below, taken at Middlebank Wildlife Centre. She is now fully weaned and will hopefully be moving to Skye in the next week. She apparently wasn't well for a few days but is now fighting fit again. Thanks to Colin and his team for their excellent work.

Our first 2012 casualty was a windowstrike goldfinch (making a change from the usual pigeon or hedgehog, lol). Luckily he had only sustained minor concussion and was released the same day.

2011 was a busy year but the team of staff and volunteers that has worked tirelessly throughout the whole year have helped to make it one of the most successful years to date in terms of getting casualties back to the wild. Well done to all the Vale team!!

Vale has managed to weather the recession storm so far although our financial reserves have taken a battering. This year is going to be another difficult one but I hope that everyone that appreciates our vital work will support us and help us through the tough financial times.

Woops! Have to admit an embarrassing mistake.......the otter cub, now at Middlebank in Scotland, has been named Bela. Yes, that's right, he is a she!!!

Have to say, I did only have a quick look when she first came in but all the same I shouldn't be making this mistake after nearly 28 years of wildlife rehabilitation.

Anyway, Bela is doing really well and has started eating small pieces of trout. As soon as she's eating well she will be moving on to the IOSF on Skye and hopefully we will continue to get updates.

Hedgehog update: 120 with us at the moment, still coming in daily. The good news is that the mild weather has meant that we have been able to release a few of the bigger residents.

The RSPCA brought in this little otter cub tonight. He weighs just over 1kg, was found on the side of a road near Ledbury, cold and dehydrated.

We have dealt with several swans lately including our latest one which was admitted yesterday after being rescued from the River Avon at Welford-on-Avon.

He had been reported to us the previous evening, having been seen sitting on the top of the weir looking pretty sorry for himself with an obvious problem with one wing. Unfortunately, as it was getting dark, there was nothing we could do until the next morning, but then James and Charlie set off from Vale and met Jane (one of our Care Assistants) at the site.

The swan was now back on the water but after enlisting the help of Warwickshire Fire and Rescue and their boat crew from Rugby, he was rescued and brought back to the hospital.

James was surprised to find that the wing wasn't fractured but did have a large injury to the underside of it. The wing was sutured and is now bandaged up and the swan is recovering under a heat light.

There was a lot of damage to the wing and only time will tell whether or not the swan will recover.

I never realised just how small teals are until we had one in today. Tiny, compact dabbling ducks, very pretty little birds. This one was a male and came in with some blood on the breast feathers. He was still extremely lively but on closer inspection we discovered a tiny, round hole in this breast with the surrounding feathers pushed inside the hole, a tell-tale sign of a bird that's been shot.

We x-rayed to confirm our suspicions, and sure enough, there was a piece of lead shot showing on the picture.

The prognosis for this poor duck is not good as he has a fracture to the coracoid (part of the shoulder blade) - we will have to see how/whether this heals well enough for this migratory bird to fly as strongly as he needs to.

Stuck for ideas for Christmas presents this year?

1. How about Hugh Warwick's brilliant book 'A Prickly Affair - My Life With Hedgehogs'. The RRP for this hardback edition is £14.99, but throughout December we are selling it for just £9.99 and what's more, postage is free to a UK address.

2. Or you could buy someone a year's membership to Vale Wildlife Hospital for just £20.

3. For £24 you could buy a friend or relative entry into our 100 Club, giving them a monthly chance to win great cash prizes.

All of the above are available from our online shop, so please consider supporting Vale Wildlife Hospital this Christmas.

Oh, and the running total for hedgehogs in our care is now 106...and rising!