Wildlife rescue.

Several people, upon hearing how long I have been traveling around and living in Australia, have asked me what some of the highlights have been.  That’s a difficult question to answer… how do I pick out just a few experiences from this whole period?  I usually tell them about some of my first encounters with Aussie wildlife, because those are moments that do come to mind quickly.  Given how many years the continent has been isolated far away from the rest of the world, it has had plenty of time to develop its own unique wildlife.  Some folks are surprised when I mention my wildlife encounters; it’s not something that they would list first… or possibly they are Aussies who have grown up with the wildlife here and thereby don’t find kangaroos hopping in their backyards to be that special.  Regardless, I still find it exciting.

In seeking out my next volunteer opportunity, I wanted it to be something that perhaps I couldn't do elsewhere.  What could be more unique to my Australian experience than rescuing native wildlife?  While driving around, I have seen signs providing contact numbers should you come across injured wildlife.  Australia has a number of wildlife rescue service organizations.  The largest in New South Wales is WIRES.  Although WIRES (Wildlife Information Rescue Education Service) is most often associated with rescuing sick, injured, and orphaned native wildlife, the non-profit organization expands on its public service by providing information so the public can better coexist with the native wildlife.  Started in 1986, the WIRES network now has 27 branches across the state and over 2,000 volunteer members.

To become a member, I first had to attend two days of initial training.  Given my schedule, I decided to take the Rescue and Immediate Care Course in Dubbo, NSW.  Dubbo has its own branch covering a very large region, whereas the area surrounding Sydney is split into seven branches.  It was interesting to attend training in another branch, because they have different needs than Sydney.  Firstly, Dubbo has far less volunteer members to cover big distances.  Dubbo members rotate phone duties, but in Sydney all the calls are directly to a call centre (where they could have more than 250 calls per day).  Plus, the species that need to be rescued are different.  Dubbo cares for far more macropods (like kangaroos and wallabies), because those large mammals just are not hopping around the metropolitan areas of Sydney.  Instead, the Sydney East branch, where I am a member, deals mainly with bird and possum rescues.

This initial training qualifies me to rescue the easier species and provide immediate care for them (a few hours to maybe a couple of days).  I decided to focus on the rescue part, because my living situation was too variable.  Members can attend additional training if they want to pursue longer term care or rescue other species.  For example, members must complete the Reptile Handling Course before they can be asked to rescue dangerous lizards or snakes (Australia has the most venomous snakes after all).  Likewise, rescuing and handling raptors or flying fox/microbats also requires specialized training.  In fact, WIRES members who handle bats must be vaccinated against bat Lyssavirus.  Since joining WIRES, my availability for rescues has decreased.  Of the 10 or so calls I have received so far, I was only able to do one rescue (for a possum).  However, when I contacted the species coordinator, she volunteered to take over the case, because she works only a couple blocks away from the location.  Sadly, that possum did not survive.

From what I have heard, most cases are not successful.  Usually when the animals are rescued by WIRES, they have already been through some traumatic ordeal (such as being hit by a motor vehicle).  However, if the animal does seem to have a chance for survival, WIRES members do what they can to give that animal the best shot.  The ultimate goal for all rescued wildlife is to release them back into the wild (ideally near where they were found, if possible).  While I haven’t been on any rescues yet, I have been involved with the care of possums at a WIRES aviary.  The possums at the aviary are at healthy stages where they are being prepared for release back into the wild.  Possums that had been orphaned and had to be hand-raised by volunteers will graduate to the aviary enclosures, where they need to put on weight (total weight at least 1,500 grams) until they can be released.  We volunteers provide them with fresh native foliage and some extra fruits/veggies/nuts every day.  This pair of brushtail possums was at the aviary when I started and have already been released.

Brushtail possums have only a single young at a time, but WIRES has seen benefits from buddying up joeys (up until a certain age).  Because there wasn't much information on how to care for native wildlife before, WIRES members had to figure out what the best methods were.  The observations and information collected by experienced members serve as the basic knowledge for the training courses, but there is still much to figure out. 

Here’s a video of Yuda, another brushtail possum, at the aviary.  She’s a big fan of peanuts and always seeks them out first.

On the recommendation from a fellow WIRES member, Emma and I stopped in Port Macquarie, New South Wales to visit the Koala Hospital.  The Port Macquarie area has a large population of koalas.  Koalas in Victoria are larger and darker with thicker fur to handle the colder temperatures in the south.  Koalas in subtropical and tropical Queensland are smaller and lighter.  The Port Macquarie koalas are somewhere in the middle.  The excellent facility, largely run by big team of volunteers, is dedicated solely to koalas – the rescue and rehabilitation of sick and injured koalas and research into their behavioral patterns and diseases.  Like WIRES, the Koala Hospital wants to release the koalas back into the wild.  This chart provides some details on the hospital patients during my visit:

The three top reasons why a koala might be admitted to the hospital are: collision with a motor vehicle, dog (or cat) attack, and Chlamydiosis.  All are related to the removal of natural koala habitat for human development.  Chlamydia is a sexually transmitted bacterial disease and is becoming increasingly common as koalas are overcrowded together in smaller areas due to habitat loss.  It can affect the eyes (can cause blindness) and/or the urogenital tract (can cause infertility) and can lead to death.  Those patients listed as having a ‘wet bottom’ are suffering from the disease.  Koalas suffer from other injuries too, including scoliosis.  This fella has an abscess on his face from unknown reasons.

Clearly, a visit to the hospital is unlike most other places where you might be able to view koalas.  The injuries are in plain sight as the koalas recuperate in the outdoor yards.  Here a volunteer feeds a patient a special supplementary milk formula low in lactose. 

Of course, the cute juveniles, who had to be hand-raised after being abandoned or orphaned, are the most active and quite fun to watch.  Here's one learning how to become a better climber.

A couple of days later when Emma and I visited the Australia Zoo, we signed up for a tour of the wildlife hospital.  It actually ended up being a private tour, as no one else had signed up.  I think a lot of visitors miss out on visiting the hospital, because it is outside the zoo area across the parking lot.  It’s too bad for them, because I found it to be very interesting.  Of course, if more people had been on the tour, it probably would not have been gone past its extended time as it did for us.  The wildlife hospital started back in 2004, inspired by Steve Irwin’s mum Lyn who was a well-known wildlife rehabilitator.  This sculpture is based on a photo of Lyn's hands as she holds a possum joey.

Emma and I toured the new facility (previously the hospital operated in an old packing shed) opened in late 2008.  It is Australia's largest wildlife hospital.  They address emergency wildlife calls every day and have a team of full-time veterinarians, vet nurses, and volunteers to provide the best care possible for sick and injured wildlife.  Like WIRES and the Koala Hospital, their goal is also to release the rehabilitated animals back into the wild.  They may admit up to 30 different species to the hospital every day, keeping the staff on their toes.  Many of the patients here are southeastern Queensland koalas.  Apparently, koalas in this population are suffering from a koala version of AIDS called Koala Immune Deficiency Syndrome (KIDS).  In 2008, one researcher has estimated that the virus could lead to the extinction of koalas in Queensland within 15 years.  That would be a very sad day for this icon of Australia, and we need to prevent that day from happening.

I was highly impressed by the wildlife hospital.  The tour certainly made me question my career choice.  Although we toured all parts of the building, for some reason I didn't take many photos inside.  However, I did snap some inside the koala orphan enclosure.  These koalas are around 12 months old.

Although there are a number of wonderful folks (mainly volunteers) across these organizations who are dedicated to the preservation of native wildlife, more action will be needed.  I enjoy encountering the unique Aussie wildlife out in the wild, and I certainly hope that anyone who wants it to be part of their Australian highlights will have the same opportunity in the future.