'I lost my husband to cancer, but was determined to keep our Cork animal centre alive'
Julie Cronin, founder of Wildlife Rescue Cork syringe-feeding a baby rabbit who was injured by a car. Pictures: Chani Anderson
When Julie Cronin and her husband John Hannon decided to open a wildlife centre in Cork six years ago, the couple believed it would be a passion project they could enjoy together
However, just two years later in 2019, John was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer after going to the doctor with a persistent cough.
He was given approximately seven months to live, but survived for nearly three years, passing away last July aged just 36 years.
Wildlife Rescue Cork in Whitechurch started in Julie’s back garden at her family home in Montenotte before she moved in with John and built their own home with a centre at the back for wildlife.
Julie has a long history in working with wildlife including volunteering in Canada and South Africa and Scotland rehabilitation centres as well as Fota Wildlife Park and currently works with the ISPCA in Mallow.
The centre itself is a charity with onsite and transport volunteers and vet nurses rescuing an average of 466 animals a year.
However, following the death of her childhood sweetheart, Julie was so devastated that she contemplated closing the centre down.
“I was so exhausted I didn’t think I had anything left to give,” she said. “I had been minding John throughout his sickness in covid and running the centre. The emails kept flooding in, and the rescues were building up, I was shattered, I felt I just couldn’t do it.
“Then one of my volunteers called Sharon O’Connor took over the reins and gave me time to myself to get back on track.
“It was John’s wish that the centre kept going. He always said we are doing important work and that must continue. So, I went back to working with the animals.
“It is a very busy centre, and more and more people are becoming aware of the importance of rehabilitation for wildlife, and that is a good thing. They are picking up injured animals, or asking us to do so, we take them in here for evaluation, sometimes they need to go to the vet, other times we work and care for them onsite.
“Most of the animals are injured or sick because of human behaviour. Including road crashes, people hanging on to animals for too long before seeking help or habitats being disturbed."
When you drive into Wildlife Rescue Cork you are met with a strong and unusual smell. “That’s our resident fox” said Julie before taking us to see the animal in her large purpose-built enclosure around the back of the building.
“We called her Willow, and she came to us as a cub because she is nearly blind, she has detached retinas. She lives here full-time."
Despite the love and care Julie and John had given Willow, keeping a pet fox is not something she would recommend.
“They are wild animals, they are not for captivity,” said Julie. “She would be the first and last resident I would keep. They are extremely hard work and are not meant to be in an enclosure. They are not pets; people say ‘I’d love a pet fox’ but believe me you don’t, you need a licence to keep a wild animal but apart from that, she is a lot of work, and she is disabled, we don’t have a lot of sanctuaries to care for animals like her”.
Julie and John had cared for the fox together for four years, (she’s nearly five) as well as all of the animals on site. There are currently 24 animals in the centre including rooks, hedgehogs, a buzzard, and swan as well as a bat, an oyster catcher and fieldfare — but they cater for all native species.
They are being treated for injuries as a result road collisions, infections, and dehydration, while several hedgehogs were disturbed during hibernation.
“It’s a very tough job. Your heart has to be in it, and you have to be sensible about it” she said.
Julie and John met when they were teenagers, she is from Montenotte in Cork and John from Whitechurch.
She was 16 and in fourth year at St Angela’s when she met John who was 18 and in sixth year in Bruce College. The couple had been together for 18 years.
John went on to study chemical engineering at UCC and then joined his father and helped him run their business, Glenmill Engineering in Whitescross, while Julie studied physiology at UCC.
They got married in 2020 shortly after John’s diagnosis and decided not to have children.
“We discussed it,” said Julie. “But I didn’t want to explain to a child that their father had passed away. I didn’t think it would be fair.”
Even though Julie lost her husband and best friend at such a young age, she said his death has given her a new sense of perspective.
“You have no idea what tomorrow will bring,” she said. “I try and live life the way I want to, and I enjoy it. You’ve no idea what will happen.
“I will always be grateful that me and John had time to say everything we wanted to say to each other. He knew how much I loved him. He was my best friend. Nothing was left unsaid.
“When the consultant broke the bad news in 2019, I just couldn’t believe it. But we learned to put death to one side and live our lives to the full.
“We spent so much time together in those three years, basically in a bubble because of covid, we were really lucky that I could keep him safe, any germs or anything would have killed him. It was good and bad timing.
“In reality, the covid lockdown kept him alive, and we did so much together. We helped each other to the end. We got through it; he even planned his own funeral.”
John passed away unexpectedly shortly after attending Marymount hospital in July 2023 for pain relief.
“We thought we would have a week or two,” said Julie. “But he was gone the next day, it was, in hindsight, perfect for him, if you know what I mean, he didn’t have a long and drawn-out death.
“We got to talk and say goodbye, and he was surrounded by people who loved him, and everyone got to say what they wanted to say.
“I was always grateful for that; I was happy for him he had his dignity and went from being lucid to passing away.
“I was devastated of course, shattered, and exhausted, even though you know it is coming, we prepared for everything, John even opened a little case file with instructions on how to do things around the house and how everything works."
As Julie walks around her centre describing each of the animals and how they are being cared for, her rescue dog, Bella the boxer, runs up and jumps up on her.
“She is the best thing we ever did” she said. “Bella gave us both life. When you have animals like her, they just get you up and moving because they have to be cared for.
“This was our dog, and she was a huge support to me and John.”
With the growing number of animals that need care Julie is now hoping to secure a lease for a larger premises.
“This is not big enough anymore,” she said. “We went from caring for 38 rescues in 2017 when we opened to more than 400 a year. We are hoping to get a lease outside of my home on a building that is bigger.
“There is a lot of cleaning and keeping animals apart for fear of spreading infection and more and more people are contacting us now, so we really do need a bigger space."
Wildlife Rescue Cork needs to raise €50,000 to move to a more suitable premises and rely predominantly on public donations.
The Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine has awarded them a funding grant of €8,000 for 2024. They received €4,000 in 2023.
“I really hope we can make this a reality,” said Julie. “We are stretched as are all of the rescue centres, but the work is vital.
“I say to people all the time, when you injure or kill wildlife, not only is it illegal you’re also disturbing biodiversity, so killing one animal takes it out of the circle and you disrupt the whole ecosystem.
“A bird might have chicks back in a nest to feed, or cubs in a den, and if you knock down a bird, or shoot them because they’re annoying you, you are taking out a whole family, the repercussions are huge."
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