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.

 

This entry was posted on Friday, January 22nd, 2010 at 9:22 am and is filed under Wildlife Warriors. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.