Warning over homemade baby animal feeds

A Surrey wildlife rescue centre is warning against looking online for advice on caring for baby animals, after taking in mice that had been fed a mix including mayonnaise and corn syrup.

Wildlife Aid Foundation (WAF) in Leatherhead was brought two baby mice, just days old, which were "in poor condition, underweight and very dehydrated", after a third sibling had already died.

A spokesperson for WAF said they always advised members of the public to contact their local wildlife centre for advice if orphaned baby animals were found.

"The internet has so much contradictory advice," they said.

When they first came in, the centre's priority was to stabilise the animals, the spokesperson said,

They said the animals' fur was covered in the substance they had been fed before arriving.

While one of the mice brought in did not survive, the charity says the one that did survive, named Syrup, has since recovered and been released.

Once its coat had grown back and it was back to showing mouse behaviours, such as hiding its food, Syrup was released into a volunteer's garden.

The spokesperson said they completely understood people wanting to hand-rear baby animals, and it was "always all good intentions".

Members of the public are advised only to give orphaned animals anything other than a shallow bowl of water if they are told by a professional to do so.

The centre said: "With these DIY attempts likely to get worse as inappropriate footage is shared across social media, we beg you to please think of the animal before sharing or engaging with such content."

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