Surrey recently announced a state of drought, and wildlife charities are bracing themselves for an onslaught of suffering animals. According to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Surrey and the Thames Valley just faced two of the driest years since 1984, when the records were first established.
Wildlife Aid Foundation, founded and directed by Simon Cowell, is preparing for the “impending catastrophe” and the “devastating” effect it is likely to have on the region’s wildlife.
Simon Cowell explains that “last year was bad enough. You may remember the forest fires that occurred throughout the region. We’d had barely a drop of rain for weeks on end, and it wasn’t long before we saw the terrible consequences of that dry weather in the huge numbers of malnourished and dehydrated baby animals that were brought into our Leatherhead wildlife hospital.”
Mr. Cowell, along with the Wildlife Aid Foundation, encourages residents to leave shallow dishes of water outside in their lawns, as well as to be on the lookout for struggling animals.
He said: “In the circumstances I am not sure how we are going to cope, as we are chronically overstretched even without a large additional influx of patients. We are the only wildlife hospital in the area and only one of a few in the whole of southern England.”