Two of these lovely ladies are Sue Moore from Tarwin Lower and Kylie Laing from Venus Bay, Australia.
For the past fifteen years, Sue has passionately cared for local wildlife and is presently nursing four koalas (one of them a baby), one pygmy possum, two eastern rosellas and one galah.
Sue manages her shelter around her busy part-time job and currently misses her six grandchildren (due to social distancing), who visit often and are a huge help with her furry patients.
Kylie has two decades of wildlife experience up her sleeve, which began when she discovered a helpless baby wombat in Venus Bay. She's presently nurturing two wombats in her shelter and has just recently released one back into the wild after three months of care.
The vet initially advised this wombat had no chance of surviving.
Kylie also works part-time and is currently overseeing the home schooling of her two children.
Sue and Kylie initially both researched shelters and their involvement before completing Wildlife and Rescue training to consequently earn their licences. Since this time, they've devotedly forged ahead, assisting native fluff balls whichever way they can.
Each year the number of animals, birds and reptiles needing support has increased. Last year's statistics revealed, on average, five creatures per week had been rescued and cared for within each of the shelters in the South Gippsland region. This trend has so far continued into 2020.
The amount of time, energy and money - predominantly self funded - involved in running a wildlife and rescue shelter is enormous.
The following is an approximate daily example:
- 4 hourly orphan feeds around the clock
- Daily sanitisation of cages
- Food shopping
- Food preparation
- Extensive washing
- Night grass picking
- Transportation to vet appointments or other more appropriately set up shelters
- Driving to reported locations to pick up rescued creatures, including vets
- Returning healed wildlife to their natural habitats for release
- On call 24 hours a day
- Answering advice calls from the public
- Answering police calls
I absolutely admire these amazing souls, who go above and beyond to help unique wildlife. Their guiding light is their love for the animals and when tasks seem tough and time or money scarce, their unwavering commitment remains strong.
They do what they can with the available resources and quietly, humbly get on with it.
Funding for wildlife shelters is spasmodic and minimal. These dedicated animal lovers greatly appreciate donations in the form of money, food or goods.
If you are able and wish to support this worthy cause, please call your local shelter to be advised of present needs or to ensure your kind money offerings are immediately added to their Wildlife Patient kitties.
Some important tips to leave you with:
Do not feed mince meat to baby magpies, or any baby birds for that matter. It can cause serious harm.
Do not just feed sunflower seeds to birds, even though they love them. They too can be harmful.
If you happen to find an animal, bird or reptile needing help, please call your local wildlife emergency response number.
If you are able to pick up the injured creature, please retain in a warm, quiet, dark place to de-stress or wrap in a towel or blanket while you ring for assistance. Please Do Not Feed!
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