Crowds flock to wildlife centre

The rare chance to see behind the scenes of a Norfolk wildife hospital saw people queueing at East Winch yesterday.

The RSPCA Wildlife Centre opened its doors to the public for the first time in two years to offer a behind the scenes look at the work it does.

The centre, near King's Lynn, takes in hundreds of sick or injured wild animals and birds each year and many of them come from members of the public.

'The staff and volunteers have been working so hard to make this happen and it's great that so many people are showing an interest in the work we do here,' said centre manager Alison Charles.

The centre only opens every two years and the previous event saw more than 2,000 people take the chance to visit.

'We stopped counting at 2,000 and there are certainly more than that here this year.'

Visitors had the chance to see demonstrations including weighing three cygnets, all found locally. Two had injuries caused by fishing hooks, but they have all put on weight and are recovering well.

Baby hedgehogs were also weighed and visitors were also able to take see two common seal pups via CCTV as they are currently in isolation.