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Wednesday, February 2, 2022 READINGTODAY.ONLINE
ANIMAL RESCUE
Owl’s that for a lucky escape
SAFE: Luna the Tawny owl Picture: Tina Cleary Photography By DANIEL BLACKHAM dblackham@rdg.today A TAWNY Owl has been rescued from a stretch of the River Thames near Reading.
The owl, nicknamed Luna, was found entangled in a discarded fishing line and suspended from a tree over the icy river at Mapledurham Lock in Purley-onThames. Photographer, Tina Cleary, noticed the bird when on a family walk and knew she needed to act quickly to save the owl from any further distress. Ms Cleary said: “We were walking
HELP: Carly hand feeding Luna the owl
along the river and to our surprise spotted something dangling from the tree, when we got closer we saw Luna in a bit of a mess. “Fortunately, we managed to retrieve her using a net and, with some help from other walkers, could untie her but she was clearly in shock and couldn’t fly.” After recovering the owl, Ms Cleary contacted Carly Åhlén of Gabo Wildlife, a self-funded foundation focussed on rehabilitating injured animals such as owls, birds of prey and swans. Miss Åhlén made the two-hour journey from Kent to collect Luna and diagnosed an injury to the
bird’s right-wing. Tawny owls pair off from oneyear-old and usually remain in a monogamous relationship for life in an established territory so it was imperative Luna made a swift recovery and was returned to the same location she was rescued. After two-weeks of rehabilitation Luna received the green-light to return home and, after some preflight checks, made the journey back to Berkshire. Miss Åhlén invited Ms Cleary and her family along to witness the release which took place on the evening of Friday, January 21. “Luna has warmed all our hearts
Man assaulted with ‘knife’ in GBH as he left Reading branch of Nando’s A MAN who was assaulted by an attacker brandishing a ‘bladed article’ in Reading on Friday night was taken to hospital for treatment. Thames Valley Police said they are treating it as assault occasioning GBH. The incident took place around 10.10pm on Friday, January 28, at Reading Gate Retail Park. A man got out of the passenger seat of a white van, approaching a man as he came out of the branch of Nando’s. The victim, a man in his 30s, was attacked, leaving him with cuts to the face and head. He was taken to the
Royal Berkshire Hospital, but has since been discharged. The attacker got back into the van, which is thought to have black roof bars. He is described as quite tall and wearing grey tracksuit bottoms and a dark top. Police believe he used a bladed article that could have been a knife in the attack. Investigating officer Detective Grace Dooey, based at Reading police station, said: “This assault happened in the evening and CCTV shows several witnesses walking past. “I am confident that someone will have witnessed
what happened, so I am appealing to anybody who saw this to get in touch with police. “I would be particularly keen to hear from anybody who was driving in the area or parked in the carpark and may have dash-cam footage, or who witnessed the offender getting into or out of the white van. “Anyone with information should call us on 101 or make a report online, quoting reference number 43220042150. “Or you can report information completely anonymously by calling the independent charity, Crimestoppers, on 0800 555 111.”
and it was really lovely to see her back where she belongs,” said Ms Cleary Miss Åhlén added: “She flew nice and strong, after disappearing into the tree line for a few moments to focus she then took flight across the river – she looked wonderful.” On this occasion Luna made a full recovery but Miss Åhlén was keen to stress not all animals get such a lucky escape. “I urge all anglers to please take home broken fishing lines, snags and weights, you will be helping to prevent the deaths of hundreds of birds and our valuable wildlife too,” she said.
NEWS | 3
NHS dental care unavailable to many across Reading DENTISTS across Reading are not accepting new NHS patients. Of the 14 local surgeries contacted, none would accept new NHS clients but 13 out of 14 were still seeing private patients. Research by Healthwatch Reading also confirmed that only Friar Street Dental Practice in the town centre would see a person with an emergency dental problem as a one-off. Mandeep Kaur Bains, Healthwatch Reading chief executive, said: “Every day we are contacted by Reading people frustrated about not being able to see an NHS dentist.” Many people across Reading are unaware that NHS dentists are not obliged to keep seeing you, especially if you haven’t gone for regular checkups in the past. With 12 of the surgeries unable to confirm when they would start accepting NHS patients, Ms Kaur Bains is worried people will be unable to get the treatment they need. She explained: “Many local people are struggling with the high costs of living and tell us they can’t afford to go private. “While we understand the pandemic has hit dentistry hard, we’re concerned that people with the most urgent and painful problems are struggling to get timely help.” NHS England has announced £50 million in a bid to alleviate the backlog of patients with the south-east set to receive more than £6 million of funding. A spokesperson for NHS England said: “Dental practices are still operating at below 100% capacity due to the safety requirements supporting delivery of care. “This does mean practices are still having to prioritise patients with a particular focus on urgent treatment.” Whilst NHS England acknowledge access to care is a nationwide issue they are hopeful the funding will allow dental surgeries to offer additional hours to treat patients with an urgent need in the period up to the end of March. The spokesperson continued: “We are in the process of approaching practices to see if they wish to take part in this scheme. “We hope that this will help to alleviate the pressure over the few months and we believe there are plans to increase capacity from the start of April, but this remains under review.”
