A sad start to the weekend with the over night sad death of William.
He came to us as an autumn juvenile in late 2019, with a large intestinal prolapse. After life saving surgery, he over wintered with us and was released in the spring of 2020. This photo was taken on the day of his release.
Unfortunately, the finder who bought him to us this time had seen him out and about in daylight for 7 or 8 days before bringing him in after he was found collapsed. He had a huge infected wound on his belly due to ringworm and was extremely frail. It is likely he had come out of hibernation in poor condition.
Despite doing everything we could for him, he passed away last night. Our only consolation is that he was warm, and as comfortable as we could make him with pain relief.
Sleep well William, a little trooper to the very end.