No matter how much you try not to, you can’t help saying each time you look at these patients…. ‘ohhh they’re sooo cute’. On Friday morning, nine orphan Pacific Black Ducklings were admitted to the Australian Wildlife Hospital.

The ducklings, along with two other siblings, were seen with the mother duck on Thursday morning trying to climb through a wire fence. Mum flew over the fence and was quickly joined by two ducklings, but the other nine couldn’t manage the climb and were stuck on the other side. Unfortunately Mum headed off with only the two ducklings, usually the parent would wait for the majority of her brood but in this instance she may have been spooked.

A local resident who witnessed the event managed to catch the nine ducklings, place them all in a cardboard box which was then left on the lawn for Mum to find. Unfortunately later in the day the wind blew the box over and seven of the frightened ducklings ran off, falling down through the metal grate over a drain. After many hours the residents had managed to retrieve all the ducklings from the drain and a call was placed to a wildlife carer to collect the frightened and exhausted youngsters.

Amazingly, even after such a big fall all the ducklings were given a clean bill of health by the vets at the Australian Wildlife Hospital. The nine ducklings have now been placed with a bird carer who reports they are feeding and exercising normally; and when they are tired they have a feather duster for substitute Mum and a heat lamp to keep them warm as they sleep.

Remember if you see native wildlife with young, enjoy watching from a distance as approaching too close may cause the parents to stress, flee or abandon the young.

For any Wildlife Emergencies phone 1300 369 652

We received a phone call from a concerned member of the public, who had been driving on the Bruce Highway and saw some Crows attacking some type of Bird of Prey. Normally this type of interaction occurs quite commonly in the air, but in this situation, the unidentified raptor species was on the ground in the middle of the highway! Whilst on the phone to the Rescue Unit, the birds moved off from the road and down into a gulley beside the highway. Lucky we weren’t too far away and quickly drove up to check it out!

When we arrived, we donned our high visibility vests for safety, and headed down into the gulley, following the crows excited calls. To our surprise and delight – the Bird of Prey was in fact a Grey Goshawk – it was standing on the ground under a bush hiding from the crows that were surrounding it. As soon as it spotted Andy heading towards him, he took off quite quickly, carefully manoeuvring around the trees and flew back over the highway to the large gum trees. The Crows attempted to follow him, but were not able to – Success for the Grey Goshawk!

If you see any sick or injured wildlife – call Australia Zoo Rescue on 5436 2000

Grey Goshawk

A licensed bat carer and rescuer admitted a gorgeous micro bat to the Australian Wildlife Hospital this week. The micro bat was identified as a Gould’s Long-eared bat and even though she is a fully grown female, she weighed only nine grams.

The micro bat, named Diva, was dehydrated and suffering an injury to her left wing, which was preventing her from flying. Fortunately x-rays taken showed the wing wasn’t fractured, just badly bruised, which is lucky for Diva. One of our vets Dr Stacey prescribed pain relief, anti inflammatory, ointment and subcutaneous fluids so Diva’s wing could heal. Diva has been placed in care with the licensed carer who rescued her and is expected to make a full recovery over the coming weeks.

It is important to remember that bats should only be handled by vaccinated bat rescuers as some bat species can carry disease, which can infect humans.

Micro bats are nocturnal mammals sleeping through the day in tree hollows, under loose bark and sometimes buildings. These roost sites are also used to rear young and sleep when inactive over the colder months, sometimes housing up to twenty-five bats in a single colony.

Gould’s Long-eared bats typically fly close to the ground when hunting to catch airborne insects or insects on the ground or on vegetation, then eating the insect while continuing to fly. All micro bats are natural pest controllers, consuming half their body weight per night in insects. Without the many micro bat species in the environment we would be plagued by insects.

Call the Australian Wildlife Hospital on 1300 369 652 for all wildlife emergencies.

Brushtail Possums are very adaptable and when there are a shortage of hollow trees for them to call home, they often make great use of house ceilings and walls to shelter in. Unfortunately for them, sometimes this means they find themselves in some tricky and dangerous situations!

This adorable Mum and baby Brushtail Possum managed to get themselves trapped inside a bedroom wall, which they couldn’t get out of. The owners of the house could hear scratching noises coming from the wall and were quick to call the Australia Zoo Rescue Unit who rushed to the rescue.

Briano had to make a hole in the wall to rescue these two mischievous, little possums. Fortunately, they were both fit and healthy and were able to be released straight away outside in the nearby bush.

To ensure Possums living around your house have a safe hollow to live in it is a good idea to look at placing possum boxes in the trees around your property. For more information call Australia Zoo on 5436 2000.

Briano carefully looks inside...

Briano Removing the possums

Releasing the possums

This week the Australian Wildlife Hospital received a call for assistance from a National Parks Ranger at Double Island Point.

A camper had spotted a large lace monitor with an object stuck in its throat and reported this to the Ranger. The Ranger quickly realised the lace monitor was in a bad way and actually had a t-bone from a steak lodged in its throat, with the ends of the bone protruding out through the skin on both sides of the neck.

The dedicated team from the Australia Zoo Rescue Unit responded to the distress call and within a few hours had T-Bone at the Australian Wildlife Hospital for emergency treatment.

Dr Amber anesthetised T-Bone and with surgery removed the rancid bone, cleaned away all the dead throat tissue and then closed the two 10-cent-piece-sized wounds. T-Bone was prescribed pain relief, antibiotics and sub-cutaneous fluids to help rehydrate his emaciated body.

The next day T-Bone was brighter, he was given more sub-cut fluids and offered a dead rodent which he readily swallowed whole, followed by another two. Dr Amber is pleased with how clean T-Bone’s stitches look and how well he is feeding; though he will need to be in care for a considerable length of time to regain full physical strength.

It is important not to feed wildlife or throw leftover food into bushland, especially at camping grounds, picnic areas or national parks. This activity encourages bad behaviour in the animals, and over time they start to lose their natural fear of humans, coming too close and becoming aggressive if not fed. Other negative effects of feeding wildlife include increased reliance on the handouts, which in turn lead to the animals becoming lazy in their hunting habits, and in some instances cases of over-breeding. Failing even to mention the fact that a majority of food has been cooked or processed, making it an unsuitable diet for wildlife, it is simply common sense to keep human food for humans.

Call the Australian Wildlife Hospital on 1300 369 652 for all wildlife emergencies.

Patient of the Week - Stumpy the Burton’s Snake Lizard
Last week, a wildlife carer arrived at the Australian Wildlife Hospital with a small unidentified “snake” that a neighbour had accidentally injured. The “snake” was in fact a Burton’s Snake Lizard and the lower third of its body was almost totally severed.

Named Stumpy, Dr Robyn gave her a full examination while under anethestic, and found the point where the injury had occurred was below Stumpy’s cloaca (bottom). A couple of centimetres further up and Stumpy would not have survived the injury at all.

Dr Robyn surgically removed the tail and closed the open wound with stitches and was prescribed pain relief, anti-biotic and anti inflammatory.

The next day Stumpy laid two beautiful eggs, which are now being incubated and will hopefully hatch in the coming weeks. After giving birth, Dr Robyn decided Stumpy should be fed, which in itself proved to be a challenge.

Burton’ Snake Lizards feed almost exclusively on small skinks, which they swallow whole. Feeding skinks to a patient was not possible, so Stumpy was instead tube fed a protein mix straight into her stomach.

This week Stumpy finished her medication and Dr Robyn feels the stitches will be able to be removed in another week’s time, after which she can be returned home to the wild.

Burton’s Snake Lizards are often mistaken as snakes as they only have tiny scaly flaps where there would normally be legs. They are in fact harmless and are quite beautifully marked lizards with a uniquely shaped snout design to tightly hold prey. Interestingly, like geckos, Burton’s Snake Lizards don’t have eye lids, instead using their wide tongue to moisten and clean their eyes.

Burton’s Snake Lizards are commonly found across mainland Australia.

Please call the Australian Wildlife Hospital on 1300 369 652 for all wildlife emergencies.

A Leucistic Srub Turkey at Noosa National Park

A scrub Turkey with a fishing line entanglment

Here’s another interesting Colour Variation photo showing a Scrub Turkey that is Leucistic! Leucism is an interesting genetic variation that occurs deep in an animal’s DNA. This photo is of a healthy scrub turkey at Noosa National Park, and the second photo is a turkey of normal colouration that has a fishing line entanglement caught by the rescue team.

Quite often Leucistic animals struggle to survive in the wild, this is because of they are unable to blend in with their natural environment like others of their species. Therefore they are more susceptible to predation and have a higher mortality rate.

Andy climbing to rescue a Koala

This koala was lucky to get out into adjacent bushland, but still had burns to its hands

Andy using the hand ascender to climb the tree without going near the burnt exterior

The IGO heading into the bushfire zone

Just before Christmas, Bushfires tore through wildlife reserves in suburban areas south of the Zoo. Our team worked with many community groups to rescue wildlife from these burnt areas. We were called upon to climb countless trees for Koalas that had suspected burns or smoke inhalation.

The team were very careful as climbing burnt trees can be quite dangerous, but all the rescues were successful and all the Koalas that we caught are now being treated in the Australian Wildlife Hospital.

A picture is worth a thousand words, so during one climb which took two of our team members to complete, we took a few pictures from the top!

If you see any sick or injured wildlife – stay with the animal and call Australia Zoo Rescue on 5436 2000.

The Australian Wildlife Hospital admits and treats patients 24 hours a day, 365 days a year including Christmas day. This is important as wild animals have no concept of 9am to 5pm or Monday to Friday and so many native species are nocturnal.

On Christmas day we had a rather uncommon patient admitted, a 345gr juvenile platypus from the Woodford area.

Annabelle, as she was named by her rescuer, was found having difficulties swimming and submerging and seemed to be exhausted. On closer examination she was found to have paralysis ticks all over her body and was also thin and dehydrated.

Annabelle was admitted to the Australian Wildlife Hospital where she had over thirty ticks removed and she was given subcutaneous fluids to help rehydrate her. She was identified as a juvenile and still dependant on her Mother for milk. The rescuer had noticed a larger platypus in the same water body so Annabelle was taken back so she could re-unite with the larger platypus who would hopefully be her Mother.

Sadly the larger platypus shunned her, so Annabelle was returned to the Australian Wildlife Hospital to be fed special milk formula while a platypus carer was contacted.

Platypus carers aren’t as common because they need to complete separate extensive training relating to that species and the Government will only then issue a special license allowing them to rehabilitate platypus.

Annabelle will stay in care until she is weaned and learns to forage for herself.

Platypuses have a very sensitive bill which they use to locate food in the gravel along creek beds, which includes mostly yabbies and insect larvae.

Platypuses and echidnas are the only worldwide species classified as monotremes (egg laying mammals); making them quite unique species.

Call the Australian Wildlife Hospital on 1300 369 652 for all wildlife emergencies.

Hi Irwins and all the zoo crew and Happy New Year!

This is my first blog, but I just had to write to tell you just how proud and happy I felt when i visited the zoo just before Christmas. You see, i’ve been before and was so impressed, and when my best friend said she wanted to come with me to visit Australia, I made it a point to take her to the zoo.

Impressed, wowed, she loved it!! she was so taken with how clean, tidy, well organised it is. How healthy and happy the animals are. in fact I think we were one of the last few people to leave on that day. I myself enjoyed it again so, so much. I am returning to Australia mid 2010 and believe me I cant wait to come back to visit and see how things are.

well, thats me for now but Thankyou so much for making my best friends holiday so special, and keep up good work guys! Oh Yeh! Crocs Rule!!!!