Wildlife Rescue

[nokiwime]

Good on you for getting this shingleback off the road.

About five years ago the National Parks and Wildlife in NSW opened a lottery for reptile licence holders because they had (I think it was) thirty shinglebacks which needed homes. I won one and was the proud carer of a very large male for a couple of years before I gave it to another wildlife carer who also had one in care.The background story of these shinglebacks was related on that Australian Border Security programme which told how they had come into care.

Shinglebacks mate for life and are territorial. Some disreputable types had been collecting these lizards off the roads where they like to sun themselves during the day. If they are taken out of their familiar territory, unless the spot they were taken from is recorded, they can't be returned to the wild. These ones were being smuggled to Japan where they are worth thousands of dollars. The smugglers had tied them into socks and secreted them in luggage accompanying passengers on a commercial flight to Tokyo.

The customs had discovered them and arrested the people who were taking them out of the country, but the rat-bags who had picked them up off the roads were never caught. The lizards were looked after by Parks and Wildlife until the case had gone to trial and then given to new carers who would look after them for the rest of their lives.

It's a sad story for most of the shinglebacks because they are not inclined to take on a new mate and it's not possible to determine if any of the other stolen reptiles were their original mates. My big fella was a little out of the ordinary as he was trying to start up a relationship with a bluetongue which I had in care, so we thought he had a good chance of forming a new partnership with a lady shingleback. A friend of ours had acquired a female shingleback from a subsequent lottery in much the same circumstances and when we put the two together, my larger one put in the hard yards to convince her that he was the reptile of her dreams. It was a happy ever after story in the end, but it's not always so.

So again, good on you Bob and Lesley. You did a good job. It's just a shame that these docile lizards are so intent on lying on the road in the sun and make themselves such an easy target for poachers.

[nokiwime]

A job we can all do at the beach and water ways all over Australia, is remove the fishing line which has been left behind by others. Our work with wildlife often entailed cutting fishing line off the legs of seabirds and waders, but turtles can also be affected. With the circulation to a leg cut off, it doesn't take long for the leg to atrophy and drop off if the line isn't removed. Here we are cutting fishing line and hooks off the branches overhanging the banks of the Swan river in Perth with the help of a local friend. Our son Eddy was visiting us at the time these photos were taken and was unimpressed that his paddle up the river was delayed.



Unfortunately it's an occupational hazard when you come kayaking with us. We always carry scissors just in case we come across these type of hazards.

Pelicans are lovely birds and Michael and I will never forget a rescue we did in Sydney once. A phone call to our Wildlife organisation told of a pelican which had been sitting on a private wharf for three days before the owners realised it was trapped by fishing line. They had thought the bird was choosing to sit on their wharf in the mornings and when the couple left for work each day they assumed it flew away until returning the next morning. It was dark when they got home in the evenings so it was not until the weekend that they realised the bird was in trouble. Michael and I threw a blanket over her to quieten her so she wouldn't stress and pull at the fishing line while we attempted to free her. We found several large and rusty hooks embedded in her wings and beak, pinning her down in an awkward position. We had to cut her free and took her to Taronga Zoo for the experts to remove the hooks without doing her further damage. The injuries were horrendous and we were sickened by them. She was successfully rehabilitated over months at Taronga Zoo.The veterinary staff there are dedicated and after they treated her infection and her wounds had healed, they gave her physiotherapy until she had full movement in her wings again and she could be released.

Australian Seabird Rescue (ASR) often has to capture pelicans to remove multiple hooks from their wings, legs and beaks.**


**Many thanks to ASR for these pictures which show why removing any abandoned fishing line is worthwhile.

You can visit their flickr photos if you want to see some more vivid pictures of the damage that our discarded fishing lines inflict.

[nokiwime]

After Uncle Henry and Michael cleared out masses of glass and metal sheets from between the sheds, they left this blue tongue lizard confused. I was busy painting everything white to brighten up the interiors when I found this little guy at a loose end. It was uncharacteristically comfortable with being picked up and handled and Uncle Henry told me that his resident blueys often hang around waiting for him to dig something yummy up while he gardens – as do the butcher birds.
This one had a couple of ticks behind its left ear so we removed them before putting a little highly diluted Betadine on the area and returning it to the garden.
An efficient way to remove ticks is to grip them with tweezers and turn the tick almost half way onto its back before you gently prise it free. They come out intact and alive this way, which lessens the chance of infection which can occur if the head gets left behind.
Support the whole body when you hold a lizard, so they feel secure, and never pick up a bluey by the tail. They are of the skink family and if they feel threatened or are grabbed by it by something scarey like a dog, they can drop their tail. Losing the tail itself won't kill them, but as they store their winter nourishment in it, they could well starve over time or it could become infected.


This is as close to a smile as the bluey could manage

I was impressed with this lizard's condition. It must have recently shed its skin because it was glossy and smooth and unlike a lot of Sydney blue tongues, it had all its fingers and toes. Kingscliff (from our experience) is always moist (to put it politely) but Sydney has been so dry for years that when the lizards are shedding, the skin often fails to come off the end of the tail and digits. These left over bits of skin shrink tight and act like a tourniquet, cutting off circulation and causing toes and tail tips to atrophy and drop off. Put the bluey in warm shallow water for a few minutes several times each day to gradually re-hydrate the skin if you come across this problem. The skin can be softened up with a little TLC. Don't try cutting it off while it is hard and dry.

[nokiwime]

Michael took these shots of this young osprey with what may well be its first catch. I'm not all that familiar with raptors, so I could be wrong about the species. There are a lot of sea eagles and kites around here too.



It was hard enough for the poor bird to land with its talons full of fish, but every time it did manage to balance on this electricity pole at the front of Uncle Henry's house, the butcher birds harassed it until it would have to take off again. It gave up eventually, and carried its fish up Cudgen Creek to eat it closer to home. I expect its siblings would have demanded a share if they noticed.

[Marshies]

Trish, these are a few photos I have taken of animals at a friends place outside of Childers. Every morning and afternoon he puts out seed for the birds in the feeding trays. The birds have a feed in the afternoon and then at night time the possums come down and clean up what is left. The kookaburras come night and morning for a feed. Ted cuts up the meat into small pieces and feeds them from his hand. They don't seem to worry who's there, they still come in and sit on the chairs etc. One time he was telling us the possum had been on the big feeding plate and had tipped it off. When he went out to put the plate back in place the possum had been trapped all night under the plate. Fortunately it was not harmed and took off up the tree. I found it a bit hard to get a photo, by the time you got everything set up they would be gone to another place.

I hope you like these. Colleen.

[larks]

They visit when the fruit's on

[Marshies]

I don't have much else to share with you other than some photos. These were taken in the Gammon National Park. We were camped at the Weetootla campground and did the walk up to the springs and Grindell's Hut. On the way back from the springs we heard this noise up on the rocks and we were excited to see that there were about 6 yellow footed rock wallabies hopping around. I tried to get closer but they are very shy animals and disappeared very quickly. They are on the endangered list so we were happy to have seen them. On the way back from Grindell's Hut, we saw some on another cliff face so we sat quietly and had a cup of coffee. They co-operated and made their way down to the river bed. I changed the lens on my camera and gradually crawled on my knees over in the direction I thought they were. I looked up a few times to see where I was going and could see one sitting on a rock. Eventually I got up close enough to get a close up of this beautiful animal.
There is just so much to be seen when you get out into the outback, that is why I love being on the road. I can't wait until we leave for our trip around Winton, Boulia, Mount Isa, Richmond with our grandson and his dad.
With our set up Brody and Michael will have a bed in the landcruiser, and we will have a bed in the caravan.
Hope you all enjoy what you are doing and one day, who knows we will see you on the road. Would love to be on the trip over the top but it just doesn't fit into our programme.

Colleen.

[nokiwime]

I cut this out of Caravanning News. (Hope that's ok jJohn.)
Thought it should be here forever so we know what to do if the need should ever arise.

[Marshies]

Our garden has been inundated with butterflies since all the rain. This is not a rescue job just a sharing job.



Took me ages to get this fellow to sit still long enough to take a photo. The wings just never stopped.

[Marshies]

We have had lots of these big butterflies in the yard since all the rain. They only seem to live a few days, then lie on the ground like this one and die. I don't know much about butterflies, but is this their life cycle, a short life?

Colleen.