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.
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