Although he lacked formal veterinary training, Stocker pioneered wildlife medical care at a time when traditional veterinary medicine focused on treating domesticated (驯养的) animals and pets. "An injured wild animal had nobody to look after it; nobody seemed to care，" Stocker once said. "It was just that feeling that made it quite easy for me to start taking them in."

　　Stocker and his wife, Sue, set up an animal rescue center in a garden shed behind their home in Buckinghamshire, where they began treating varieties of injured birds and animals - including muntjac deer, foxes, swans, and owls - dropped off by vets, cops, animal shelters, ordinary citizens, and the occasional celebrations.

　　With few established wildlife treatment protocols at the time, Stocker learned by trial and error. He used superglue to repair bird beaks and bat wings. He developed slings to hold and protect injured deer. And he once stitched up a frog's tongue after it had been sliced by a weed trimmer, and then spent hours patiently helping it relearn how to use it to catch insects again. Trained vets were paid to operate and prescribe drugs, but Stocker learned how to provide emergency treatment and anesthetize (给......施行麻醉) animals. For baby hedgehogs, he fashioned a plastic cap into an anesthesia mask.

　　By 1983, Stocker was devoted to wildlife full­time, establishing the charitable Wildlife Hospital Trust to fund a veter­inary hospital in a converted three­bedroom house. Through donations, the Trust eventually raised enough money to build a bigger facility on a six­acre site in 1991.

　　His efforts were eventually honored by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and the New York Academy of Sciences.

语篇解读：1976年莱斯·斯托克被一只受伤的刺猬绊倒，求助被拒后他便开始悉心照顾它，并且从此踏上了治疗和照顾受伤的野生动物的人生之路；他还和妻子一起创办了野生动物援救中心。

　　4．Why did Les Stocker take care of the injured hedgehog?

　　A．Because he was devoted to the protection of the wild animals.

　　B．Because he failed to get help from a local veterinarian.

　　C．Because he would like to transform his ordinary life.

　　D．Because he wanted to make some changes to himself.

　　解析：选B　细节理解题。根据文章第一段第二句"Unable to get help from a local veterinarian, who offered to put it to sleep, Stocker took the little animal home and tended to it himself."可知，因为当地兽医没能提供帮助，莱斯·斯托克只好把刺猬带回家自己照顾。

5．Les Stocker started wildlife medical care when ________.