Scotsman Obituaries: Gay Christie, passionate and inspiring rescuer of animals

It would be impossible to write about Gay’s life without including that of her husband Andy, for they were an indomitable, inseparable duo who worked ceaselessly to rear and repair wildlife.

Born Gay Lewis, she grew up in Warrington, Cheshire. After university, while volunteering with the Conservation Corps (later Scottish Conservation Projects), she met Andy, who was working as group leader. They were married in 1969.

Their mission to help wildlife began in a council house in Lochwinnoch, where they hand-reared a fox cub Andy had taken from a gamekeeper. She said: “We made lots of mistakes. Fred’s eyes were just opening, but we didn’t think enough about his future. We quickly learnt about rearing cubs and how most can be returned to the wild. As the majority of the foxes we receive come from the urban environment, this is where we will eventually release them.”

Soon the premises were overrun with injured, orphaned and ailing creatures. Andy’s job at Muirshiel Country Park, as the first conservation ranger in Scotland, gave Gay opportunities to tend the needy. Of note were three orphaned badger cubs that she hand-reared, the Bumbles, who followed behind her in a boisterous crocodile, nipping one another and her wellies. Gay and Andy had found their vocation.

In 1979 they acquired a 20-acre site near Beith in Ayrshire. Here, their dedication to beleaguered wildlife grew with the addition of 60 outdoor aviaries, a hedgehog unit, intensive care unit, outdoor pools, veterinary treatment rooms and a teaching facility where vets, vet nurses and laypeople could come for courses.

Hessilhead Wildlife Rescue Trust quickly became Scotland’s largest independent wildlife hospital, taking in over 3,000 casualties annually with the help of a team of volunteers. Gay was essentially a very private person but knew that publicity was integral to funding. She regularly contributed news of their patients to the Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald and numerous other papers. After a long silence, in her internet diaries she posted: “If you are wondering why there have been no recent updates, here is a list of patients in the hospital: 58 common gull chicks – less than a week old; 2 cygnets; 3 goslings; 1 adult buzzard, eye infection and very thin; 2 tawny owl chicks, 1 adult with an injured wing; 1 young weasel; 1 young rabbit; 2 young rooks; 4 fledgling carrion crows; 29 starling chicks; 15 blue tit chicks and 8 great tits; 9 fledgling blackbirds, 2 mistle thrushes and 2 song thrushes; 10 magpie chicks, and 10 jackdaw chicks; 1 robin and 2 dunnocks; 2 collared doves, 4 young wood pigeons and 7 feral pigeons; 4 house sparrow chicks, 2 pied wagtails, 1 chaffinch and 1 greenfinch; 6 pheasant chicks and 2 mallard ducklings; 3 adult hedgehogs and 2 bats

“A lot of these youngsters are on half hourly feeds, others hourly.

“We have already released blackbirds and thrushes, we have magpies and crows outside, learning to be independent, and 11 more tawny owls. There are ducklings at various ages and some tiny youngsters with their mum. There are 20 hedgehogs, mostly from the Uists. There are swans and 3 seal pups. So, you see why the feeding round at Hessilhead starts at 8am and continues till 10pm.”

Unusual patients included a storm petrel found outside a club in Glasgow’s Sauchiehall Street, a pomarine skua found in Strathclyde Park, and a vagrant Scops owl from Kilmacolm. An adder with minute young was successfully released after a period of recovery. Nothing was ever turned away.

When the Linwood car factory was demolished in 1999, workers ignored a colony of lesser black-backed gulls and crushed dozens of chicks. Despite tenacious efforts to halt the work, it continued until workers cooperated by boxing surviving chicks for Gay and Andy, who worked around the clock to hand-rear 296 for successful release. One of those ringed was later recorded sunning itself in Portugal. Thanks to the compassion of an MOD policeman, over 100 common gull eggs were removed from Faslane, successfully hatched and released at Hunterston.

In 2003 Gay and Andy campaigned ceaselessly to end Scottish Natural Heritage’s controversial hedgehog cull in the Uists. The thoughtless introduction of these mammals to the Hebrides causes mayhem among critical ground-nesting waders, notably the dunlin. After the cull was stopped some hedgehogs were live-trapped, flown to Glasgow and taken to Hessilhead, while they fetched others in the Hessilhead ambulance travelling with CalMac from Oban to Lochboisdale and home – a round trip of 400 miles.

Gay's compassion and care were a constant inspiration. Most of the problems they witnessed were caused by human activity, but they also witnessed terrible cruelty. As a team, the Christies were at the forefront. During the Braer oil spill in Shetland in 1993 they spent every waking hour endeavouring to rectify the situation.

In 2003 Gay and Andy received MBEs for services to Scotland’s wildlife but for them it was simply their way of life. Gay knew that if we don't put nature first, we stand to lose everything. Wildlife will be the poorer for losing one of its greatest champions, but the work she did with Andy, leaves a legacy that has changed the face of rehabilitation in Scotland and beyond.

She is survived by her husband, Andrew William Christie.

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