Stories of some of
our friends
My beloved phoned me at work to say "Jack is back and appears to be
injured with a bloodied wing although still able to fly".
Jack is a Long-billed Corella who came into care four
months earlier. With the sexes being similar and hard to tell apart,
'Jack' could have been a 'Jackie' for all we knew. He was found sitting
on the side of the road and it is believed he'd had a bit of a brush
with a car. Luckily his injuries were only minor and consisted of a
small abrasion, bruising and shock. Initially we thought he would only
be in care for a couple of days, maybe a week at the most but it soon
became very clear that Jack was still only a youngster and still crop
feeding.
The good news is that Jack quickly recovered from his
injuries and was soon totally free flying, living outside 24-hours a
day, mixing and mingling with all the other birds and free to come and
go as he liked. He used to appear at our back door for his breakfast,
then mid afternoon and again at night before going off to roost
(usually with the Sulphur-crested Cockatoos).
I really think that when Jack was first found, it must have been his
very first flight out of the nest as his first flight here in our back
garden - he could fly beautifully but he couldn't land. He just kept
flying round and round and in the end he just grabbed at a tree as he
went past and hung on for dear life. It was several hours before he
attempted to come down out of the tree and his landing was terrible -
he was still on "L" plates! Needless to say, Jack quickly mastered the
art of landing and became a real winged acrobat ... a joy and pleasure
to watch ... and a bit of a show-off!
So Jack was free and we knew that one day when he was
good and ready, he would join up with the flock of Corellas that
regularly stopped by our place. He socialized with them but didn't fly
off with them, I expect because he knew we were still his source of
food. Within 2 months Jack was spending all day away from home and only
returning late in the evening for a quick feed before disappearing
again. Then he was gone for a whole week and couple of weeks later he
stopped visiting us altogether ... we thought!
So he had returned - my family found Jack down near the big aviary (his
old home), with a bloodied left wing and looking very sad and sorry for
itself. They knew it was Jack because he started talking "Jack talk" to
them. They said he had flown in with a large flock of Corellas and my
mum said it was almost as if they said "okay Jack, you're home now,
you'll be okay" ... and they all flew off leaving Jack behind. He was a
bit hesitant at first but in the end quite happy to be picked up -
ravenously hungry ... and full of lice! My mum said that Jack seemed to
know he was home and quite happy to be home ... he knew he was going to
be taken care of.
When I got home that afternoon - amazingly the minute
Jack saw me, he started "baby begging" for food. So out came the
syringe & a mix of slurry and Jack went straight back to crop
feeding as though he had never been away.
A thorough check revealed the obvious bloodied left wing
and an injury to his right wing and right chest wall. I didn't need to
be a rocket scientist to work out it was the opening of duck shooting
season that weekend - Jack had been shot at and "pinged" by a couple of
stray pellets. Luckily his injuries were only superficial with no major
damage to bone or feathers, just grazing which was readily treatable
with twice daily bathing with saline solution.
We only kept Jack in the aviary for 3-days before
releasing him again. He went straight back to his favorite perch and
his old routine of regular crop feeding and lots of cuddles. Jack loved
his cuddles!
Another 3 months and Jack left home again. We still see
him occasionally in the evenings when he flies in with the main flock
of Corellas, and he still "Jack talks" to us but he doesn't come for
cuddles or feeding anymore. I think he has well and truly left home now.
How did Jack know to come home when he was injured? How
did he know that we would take care of him, fix up his wounds and feed
him? Because he did know, of that I'm sure. Aren't animals absolutely
amazing!
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Edna the Echidna
Edna came to our wildlife shelter from the Vet. She was found on the
side of the road with a large raw ulcerated wound on her lower abdomen
and unable to use her back legs. Now we didn't really know if Edna was
a female or not but the position of the abdominal wound indicated the
lactating pouch area so we assumed she was a female. It's probable that
she had been run over by a car and had been dragging herself around by
her front legs for quite some time as she only weighed 1.5 kilograms
when she first came into care and was a very sad, sorry looking
echidna.
At first, because of the nasty wound on her tummy and
the risk of it getting fly-blown, we had to keep Edna confined in a big
120L plastic container with a flywire lid and lined with towels. We
cleaned her wound twice a day with saline solution and applied a bright
yellow ointment called Septicide - this special ointment from the Vet
contained an antiseptic as well as being a fly and insect repellent.
She was fed twice a day on a mixture of raw eggs, Di-Vetelact and water
cooked over a double boiler into a custard mix. One thing about Edna,
she certainly loved her food, a girl with a very big appetite!
Of course you know the old story, 'what goes in must
come out', so every day we had at least five or six very poopie, wet
towels to wash. It was a bit like having a new baby in the house with
lots of dirty smelly nappies! Thank goodness for rubber gloves, a truly
wonderful invention when it comes to handling poopie towels!
Edna was the first animal we'd ever seen ticks on.
At first it was only one and it looked like a piece of popcorn stuck in
her spines. Ticks start off very small and it's only when they become
engorged with blood that they can be seen. The longer Edna was in care,
the more ticks we started to see - 16 in all! We removed them one at a
time as they appeared. Luckily they're not the harmful paralysis ticks
that are found in the warmer parts of Australia that some animals get.
Apparently Echidnas get this type of tick on them all the time.
It might sound strange but Edna was a real little
darling and we had quickly become very fond of her and her funny
antics. Could you imagine cuddling an Echidna? Well you could with
Edna, she could choose whether to stick her spines up or not and as she
got to know us and got used to us handling her, we could pick her up
without fear of being spiked as she kept her spines down flat.
It took 46 days for Edna's tummy wound to heal up
completely and what a wonderful relief it was to be able to put her
outside in to the big enclosure. For us it meant no more towels to
wash, and it must have been a wonderful release for Edna after being
cooped up in a big plastic container for so long. At long last she was
outside in the fresh air and sunshine with lots of dirt to dig in, logs
to scratch under, and big piles of leaves to burrow under, a bird bath
to paddle in... aahh, sheer bliss for Edna.
Sadly, Edna was still not able to use her back legs at
all; she pulled herself around using her front legs with her back legs
trailing behind her. We suspect that Edna may have a broken pelvis or
damage to her spine but the Vet was reluctant to do an xray because of
the risks from the anaesthetic and difficulty reading the xray due to
her spines making the xray non-diagnostic and unhelpful.
If Edna didn't regain the use of her back legs then the
long-term outlook for her was not good. If she couldn't use her back
legs then she could't escape from predators such as foxes and dogs (and
they do kill Echidnas) - so that means that she couldn't be released
back into the wild.
After 64 days in care, Edna was such a happy soul and
doing what Echidnas love doing best - eating, sleeping and digging! She
had been put on a special diet from the Melbourne Zoo which we made up
in a big batch then froze in daily portions. It must have been doing
her good because she put on over a kilogram in weight while in care and
Edna absolutely loves it. At breakfast and dinner time, you could just
call out ...."Edna" ....and she would trundle her way over to wherever
her food dish is, stick her beak in and not lift her head until she had
licked the bowl clean!
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Bear the Koala - burnt in the 2006 Bushfires
Bear is a special Koala - he is one of the Koalas that has been
monitored for years as part of Janine Duffy's Koala Research program.. Bear
looked fine on the day of bushfires ... until the wind changed. As the
fire took hold he moved from the burning Cherry Ballart he had been
sheltering in and his paws were burnt. His back feet were the worst,
with partial thickness burns (2nd degree) all over the pads.
He was rescued on 28th January 2006 and, after a short
visit to another shelter, he was then taken for a late night visit to
Dr Anne Fowler where his burns were cleaned and treated.
He then came to Beremboke for care. Although it is very hard to tell he
seemed to adapt well to being in care and appeared calm and comfortable
(as he was looked in the wild) while having his antibiotics, dressings
changed and formula.
His burnt paws remained bandaged for about 4 weeks
needing daily dressing. He was kept in a small enclosure as he could
not climb.
As his injuries improved his bandages were gradually
removed and it was obvious that he enjoyed his to move to a larger
enclosure. He continued to
get his injuries looked after for the next 2 weeks while he regained
his strength and some pigment back on his paws. His final vet check
showed that he was fine and had gained a little extra weight.
We knew he was ready to go - he was getting more wild
every day and not co-operating. Only food - his favourite thing - could
tempt him to come down from his high perch in the aviary. On 14 March,
Janine was thrilled to be able to release him.
Although the bush had not yet recovered Janine took him
back to some green trees in his own home range! The minute his cage was
opened he was out, and went straight up the nearest tree, then paused
above our heads to consider us one last time. He spent most of the
morning in that tree, but at lunchtime he decided to try another - so
down he came, looked at Janine deciding she could be trusted, jumped
onto the ground and bounded, ran and walked 100 metres to another tree.
Late in the afternoon she left him sleeping - happily surrounded by
green leaves in a tree of his choosing!
Bear has been monitored regularly since his release. He disappeared for
a few weeks and was thought to be travelling around his large home
range and checking it out - and possibly reviewing the bushfire damage
and other koalas in the area. He then settled back into his old home
range .... and his favourite tree.
Janine continues to check his health from a distance
including his pellets - which were loose at first when he was eating
partly epicormic growth. His confident and relaxed personality is the
same as pre-bushfire and he still responds to Janine's voice. During
the breeding season of Summer 2006/2007 he was observed checking out
the females and looking very settled.
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"The Girls" - burnt Koalas
Mumma K and Baby K (a busy time - our excuse for non-creative names)
were rescued after the January 2006 bushfires. Baby K was uninjured as
her devoted mother had shielded her from the fire and Mumma K had
received all the burns.
Mumma K's future was in doubt for some time as her burns
were so extensive and she needed intensive care.
Baby K was .... months old, healthy and close to
independence. Probably due to trauma she was still needing a mum,
although her mum was too sick. She was placed into the same enclosure
as Caz who had been rescued with minor burns. They bonded immediately
and now Baby K was happy with her new surrogate mother. (This is quite
common in the wild - the Koala "Aunties" taking on similar roles).
When Caz was ready for release, Baby K was introduced to
Verna. Verna had been rescued 3 weeks after the fire with some nasty
burns on her paws and nose. We were very concerned about her after such
a long time without care and she seemed to be improving but very flat.
She picked up quickly when accompanied by Baby K and Baby K made the
mum change very quickly. They became inseparable.
On 19 April Verna was ready for release back to the
green trees where she was found near the farmer she was named after.
Verna and Baby K were released together. After a few days in the area
they moved on (Verna was probably moving through when the bushfires
occurred.)
Mumma K remained in care and gradually improved against
all the odds. We eagerly watched for regrowth of her nails as koalas in
the wild cannot manage unless they can climb and scratch. The claws did
grow back but were quite misshapen. She has been having some reshaping
carried out by the Vet and some follow up manicures.
Twelve months later - Caz who was thought to be 'moving
through' during the fires, and who was not seen for months, has
returned and set up her home range where she was rescued. Verna and
Baby K have not been identified in the area but they were very healthy
and we hope they will be seen again soon.
Another five months later - Mumma K was more than ready
to go and she was released with some friends from the more recent
Framlingham bushfires. They were all ear-tagged by DSE, with their
health monitored twice a day for some weeks. Their location was
monitored with a special GPS system until they moved away. top of page
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