A day out volunteering

22/07/2024

At the last minute, I decided to go out with the wildlife ambulance as the volunteer support person. This is my layman's account of the day.

I had a bit of a rush get going. The days are cold and it is very tempting to lie in just for a bit longer. No lunch sandwiches (totally out of sandwich material) and after a hasty toast brekkie and tea in a thermos, I drove down to the place where I was to meet the official rescuer / driver (L) of the ambulance.

The first job was a lovely one. A mummy and bub koala release at the property where they came from. Mum K had to have treatment and surgery for conjunctivitis in her eyes. Baby K was just part of the package. Cute as a button. Interestingly I found out that Baby K just stays on mum's back while she is being treated. Probably wondering what was going on!

On the way to the property .. an hour's drive north .. we got a call from the helpline (for wildlife) that someone had called in for a wallaby in the front yard. We got there and it was apparent to L that the wallaby was very emaciated and weak. Suspect broken leg but also very old. L is a trauma carer and so this is what she does. After quickly administering a sedative, wallaby was given a strong overdose of anaesthetic that quickly stopped his heart. He was gone within seconds. The sedative took longer (about 5 mins) than the actual fatal dose. That was a surprise to me.

After moving him to the footpath and spray painting him, I called the council to come collect him. Spray painting the now carcass, was just an indication to anyone coming across the animal, that the job had been attended to. It also helped to avoid multiple calls to the helpline. After a false start (calling the wrong council) I finally called the council whose area it was in, and then we were off to the next job.

On the way to the Koala release, L got a call about some microbats that had been displaced when the home owner who was in the process of moving, removed a sign on their back porch. L was also manning the Bat Helpline as she coordinated batty problems. We were unsuccessful in trying to get anyone to attend (everyone are volunteers) so L decided to swing past and pick up the microbats.

Sometimes doing the job yourself is faster .. though resolving it still takes time, energy and some effort. L kept ringing around to see where the bats could go. Since it was not injury or ill health, just displacement, they could go to a carer and then get released at night. It took another hour of leaving messages and phone calls to get that organised.

Finally off to the Mum K's home. I was wondering if she would find it hard to adjust back to the wild after a few weeks in captivity and being fed. As we drove into the area, it was apparent that there was plenty of trees and fodder for the koala and it shouldn't be a problem to adjust. The property's around the area were large with lots of land and lots of gum trees.

Even so, after we got to her release spot, L picked a tree that was 'grippy' and not too far around the trunk to make it easy for Mum K to scramble up. After a bit of hesitation, Mum K got into the spirit of things and went up, quickly and nimbly. Bub K was hanging on looking as cute as ever. They got halfway up and looked down at us. L said that Mum K was NOT impressed with the tree. She would probably move the minute we all left (us and the home owners)

There unfortunately was another koala on the property that looked unwell and had been so for a few weeks. L arranged for one of the coordinators to set a trap at the base of the tree next morning. This is a stress free quick way of trapping a koala as it comes down and tries to move trees. The owners were also told to keep an eye on the new entrant who needed trapping.

If he was a boy (it wasn't certain as he was too high up) he could come down at night and try and knock the baby off of Mum K back. Mating or competition or a bit of both? I am unsure.

As we headed off there was another call from the helpline who someone reported to as seeing a kestrel on the ground. I was excited for me but sad for the raptor. When we got there, I went on a hike across a park at the far end of which was a dry stream bed.

As I crossed the expanse, I realised that the noisy miners were living up to their name and being, well noisy. They usually harass birds that they see a threat .. kookaburras, butcherbirds sometimes and definitely raptors. I thought I would check along there first before walking along to the other end of the park. The miners were going insane and I kept checking the area. I was reluctant to move till I had discovered the source of their unrest.

I went past and then looked back up into the trees and there it was. A tangle of feathers and looking quite bedraggled. His eyes were bright and alert but he could not move. The branches held him. I rang L and she came over. I already had the towel. As it was a medium to thin branch, L tried to bed it over with the bird trapped higher up.

As she did, he freed himself and took off up the opposite embankment. I thought he was OK but L said he wasn't and so now it was a scramble up the steep embankment. I was on my hands and knees holding the towel that I could grab him with. When i got close I managed to chuck the towel over him, and he managed to fly out again. Second round to him again. This time he went back halfway down the same embankment to my right and landed next to a tree.

Well, this was tricky. Here we go again. With L directing me, I went for another scramble. This time I threw the towel over him from a short distance, just to stop him panicking. I pinned his head down gently, so the bitey bits wouldn't bite, and L came on over and picked him. We got him into a crate safely and it was the end of the capture.

I thought he had been entangled. L thought not, maybe an injured wing. As it happens, it was neither. He got checked by the vet at the wildlife hospital and they needed to take some bloods to see what is going on. Hopefully it is not from him consuming something that was poisoned. These birds eat stick insects, mantids, frogs and small reptiles.

I am keeping my hopes up that it is something that can be resolved so he can fly again. He wasn't a kestrel, by the way. He was a gorgeous Pacific Baza.

The last job was to pick up a cormorant and a sulphur-crested cockatoo from our overnight carers and get them and the raptor to the hospital. A full day's job from 9am-4pm for the ambulance before the next shift took over.

Thank you for reading.