Shrewsbury veterinary practice caring for the planet as well as pets
Birds, bees, beetles and bugs are among the unusual creatures being attracted to a Shrewsbury veterinary practice.
However, it’s not because they’re visiting Quarry Vets for care or treatment – it’s all part of the practice’s drive to be more environmentally friendly.
The practice is proving it cares about the planet as well as pets by embracing a greener future, and is hoping that clients will support their campaign.
The team has created a wildlife garden at their surgery in Brassey Road, Old Potts Way in Shrewsbury, and have introduced bird feeders, a bird table, a bug house and planted a wildflower garden to attract bees. It is proving popular with birds, including blue tits, great tits, blackbirds and dunnocks, as well as attracting bees, beetles and bugs.
Quarry Vets is also introducing a number of other environmentally friendly initiatives to try to avoid so much waste going to landfills and to reduce the amount of single-use plastic in the practice.
The green projects are being overseen by vet Charlie Hertel, who has a keen interest in sustainability and the environment.
The practice now has milk bottles delivered by the milkman every day instead of buying plastic cartons and Charlie has repurposed vaccine vials into keyrings that can either have fur clippings to remember a pet or contain sugar water that can be used in an emergency if anyone sees a bee in need of saving.
Charlie said: “Veterinary practices produce a lot of waste, so it is important we take responsibility for our impact on the environment and do as much as we can to protect it. The veterinary profession is caring by nature so looking after the environment is a natural extension of looking after pets, animals and wildlife.
“As a practice, we want to embrace sustainable ways of working as we know how animals and the planet interact and it is important we help as much as possible.
“A lot of work has gone into the garden to make it bee and wildlife friendly. The garden also stores a new compost bin, where food waste, tea bags, grass cuttings, fur clippings and even unused paper cat litter is placed.
“We also laminate urinalysis and blood test sheets so that they can be reused rather than recycling lots of paper. The next move is saving our plastic drip lines and chopping into small pieces to be reused as non- absorbable cat litter. I am also trying to introduce everyone at the practice to using Ecosia as a search engine which plants trees for every 45 searches.”
