AusWildlife

Hey! Thanks!

The most common injuries we come across are traffic related injuries and dog attacks. Sadly a lot of these are fatal, particularly dog attacks. A lot of the time, orphans are found in the pouches of dead mothers that have been hit by cars.

One of the funniest stories could probably be the Rockhopper penguin, and the reason he got the name 'Wark'. Being a Rockhopper he was very adept at getting out of the enclosure we'd slapped together for him. I was out in the garden one day hanging washing on the line, when I hear a very loud and very close 'WAAAAARRRRRKK' behind me. After recovering from the shock I turn around and find the penguin standing right behind me with his head back, mouth open, expecting to be fed fish. There's a lot more stories, but that's probably the best one I can think of at the moment!

Edit: Just remembered another one, during summer we erect shade clothes over the Koalas enclosure. One day we were out feeding them their milk, and we couldn't find one, after looking around for a while we looked up and see a spot where the shade clothe was sagging down, and the silhouette of a koala was shining outlined. After that first one got up there the others wanted to have a crack too, and we'd often find them bouncing around on the shade clothe.

1) It depends on the animal and what has happened to them. The normal procedure is (for most animals) to cut off visuals once you have them contained. For example, with koalas, once they are in a basket and the top has been put on we cover the basket with a blanket, making the inside dark to them. That normally works pretty well. Sometimes they're extremely stressed or in pain though, in that case it just takes time and a quiet area. In the case of macropods (Kangaroos and wallabies) they need to be sedated in order to calm down.

2) There's a whole lot of stupid things Koalas do. The next story is about a Goshawk, not a Koala, One story involved a Goshawk. We were called to retrieve it from someones backyard. Where it was harassing the birds inside their aviary, it got itself stuck between the aviary and the garden fence, and it couldn't get out. In order to get the bird out the palings of the fence had to be removed, at which point it hopped out, glared at me like I'd inconvenienced it, and then flew off. That's the only one I can think of at the moment. If I think of a better one I'll check back in.

Edit: To avoid confusion. And add this, we also had one of the koalas get stuck behind a book case. They're not very good at going backwards, and it must have thought that it could figure it's own way out. We had to pull the book case out to get him. Came out looking like a drop bear, all covered in cobwebs and frightened.

It depends on the country you live in, but for Australia you need to get another wildlife shelter to take you on as a foster carer, and then through them, gain experience. You also have to be prepared to do endless hours of volunteer work rescuing and caring for the animals. Once you have had your appropriate experience you can apply for a license to have your own shelter, this is done through the State Government. And they have a set of rules and regulations you are required to abide by.

I'm a big fan of Giant Petrels, mainly because we don't get many of them in, and they're such a big bird. Not to mention how interesting they are to feed, often consuming 1-2 whole chickens a day. They are very much the vultures of the sea. And they're not vicious to humans.

I don't think we've got a video on hand. :(. But we'll make it a high priority to catch them in the act next time they're doing it!

Sadly not, they're only found on some of the small Islands near Western Australia, we don't get them in Victoria! Sorry to disappoint.