Helping hand for wildlife

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Helping hand for wildlife

KOONWARRA’S Jacqui Walsh has been a wildlife carer for 14 years, devoting much of her time to rehabilitating injured or orphaned native animals and birds.
Jacquie found herself constantly stopping on the roadside, checking the pouches of animals that had fallen victim to the traffic.
There weren’t a lot of carers around then, so Jacqui signed up to become a carer for another wildlife shelter.
For native wildlife you need to become a foster carer under a shelter first and then you can apply through the Department of Environment and Primary Industries to become an independent shelter, and take carers on yourself.
Jacqui provides help and care for anything native, from magpies and other birds to wombats, koalas, kangaroos and echidnas.
The majority of the animals that come into Jacqui’s care have either been a road victim, or attacked by another animal.
“It is very rewarding to be able to release them back into the wild. That is the main reason I do it, I love to see them go back where they belong,” she said.
Jacqui does get some animals that come into care that can’t be helped, or will not be 100 per cent fixable and are therefore are not suitable for release.
“There are animals we have to euthanise. Sometimes things go wrong and you do get attached to them. It is devastating when things go wrong with the animals you have got,” she said.
Jacqui recently received a $2000 wildlife rehabilitator grant from the state government to build a flight aviary to assist in bird rehabilitation.
“Birds that are young when they come into care and injured birds need to practice flying, so we will use the grant to build a 12 metre long flight aviary,” she said.
It is a particularly busy time of the year at the moment, and Jacqui often has around six animals in her care at any one time.
“We did get 17 ducklings in this season too. Some seasons there are heaps of wombats, and others it will be kangaroos,” she said.
Jacqui can get animals in her care from as young as a couple of months old, and most will need care until they are at least 12 months old.
Wombats remain in care until they are around two years old.
Release dates depend on the season, autumn and spring are the preferred times to send an animal back into the wild.
“With most of our animals, we will take them away to an area where there are few people. We also need to pay attention to the number of other animals in the area we intend to release in to,” Jacqui said.
“We don’t want to release a wombat where there are a lot of other wombats.”
Jacqui’s Koonwarra property incorporates six acres of wetlands, which is an ideal environment to release birds.
If the animal or bird is an adult when it comes into care it is usually released in an area near where it was found, depending on the amount of time in care.
If people do happen to come across an injured or orphaned animal, the best thing to do is to give Wildlife Victoria a call.
If it is outside business hours, it is best to call the local vet. If the person is confident enough, they could pick up the animal in a blanket, put it in a box and convey it to the closest vet.
Jacqui said one thing that often happens in spring is she receives an influx of baby birds, which can appear abandoned at first glance.
“For the first few days out of the nest, baby birds will spend a lot of time on the ground, but usually their parents are close by,” she said.
“People just need to keep their pets away and leave them be, unless the bird is obviously injured. People mean well, but the parents do a better a job than we can.”

Cuddly trio: Koonwarra wildlife carer Jacqui Walsh and her daughter Alayna with three wombats that are currently in care. These little guys will be ready for release in around 12 months.

Cuddly trio: Koonwarra wildlife carer Jacqui Walsh and her daughter Alayna with three wombats that are currently in care. These little guys will be ready for release in around 12 months.

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Posted by on Nov 25 2014. Filed under Community. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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