wildlife rescuers

Our suffering native animals need YOUR HELP during the bushfires. Please send in other contact addresses to add to this list and let us have articles and comments about your experiences helping wildlife in these terrible fires.
Please help urgently.

WILDCARE DONATE to 24/7 Helpline 02 6299 1966

Queanbeyan NSW 2620 http://www.wildcare.com.au

Southern Cross Wildlife DONATE

Dr Howard Ralph, a dedicated NSW Veterinarian and his team are providing medical care to countless animals who have been burnt and injured in the NSW fires:
Commonwealth Bank BSB 062205 Account No. 10237440 (Mona Vale)
http://southerncrosswildlifecare.org.au/wp/about/

WIRES link: DONATE

http://www.wires.org.au/

Wildlife Victoria 1300 094 535 DONATE

[** See notes end this article.]

Against Animal Cruelty Tasmania DONATE

BSB 633 000 Account number 122060924.
donate online at "wildlife fund" reference

Regular wildlife contacts here on candobetter.net. Please let us know more to add.
Thank you all

NOTES

Re Wildlife Victoria

"From: Leader December 13, 2011 10:54AM

VICTORIA'S peak wildlife group spends more money on accounting and bookkeeping than it does directly caring for animals.

Wildlife Victoria's financial records, provided to the Diamond Valley Leader, show less than 6 per cent of the organisation's total expenditure goes to volunteer carers and rescuers, who spend tens of thousands of dollars of their own money each year helping Victoria's injured and orphaned wildlife.

Despite receiving a massive $4.3million in donations after 2009's Black Saturday fires, the group's financial statements for the past 12 months show it could be bankrupt within three years.

Just $6000 is budgeted monthly for wildlife shelters and rescuers while more than $10,000 a month is spent on accounting, banking and bookkeeping fees.

Wildlife Victoria chief executive Karen Masson told the Diamond Valley Leader the organisation was surviving off the last of its bushfire appeal money and would soon begin campaigning for government and corporate funding.

"We are reducing our costs and we've been doing that since I came on board in January this year, and trying to line that up with the revenue we get year-on-year,'' Ms Masson said.

But St Andrews carer Stella Reid said Wildlife Victioria failed to immediately pass on vital money donated to her shelter after it was burnt out in the 2009 bushfires.

"I've heard people say we've made squillions from (Black Saturday). We didn't - Wildlife Victoria did,'' Mrs Reid said.Just $6000 is budgeted monthly for wildlife shelters and rescuers while more than $10,000 a month is spent on accounting, banking and bookkeeping fees."

Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) and the Department of Primary Industries' (DPI) court cases against five duck rescuers falls apart. Rescuers found guilty of only one of five charges. Magistrate refuses to award the $18,000 court costs because of DSE wildlife heavy handedness in arresting rescuers final weekend last years' duck-shooting season and criticizes wildlife officers for refusing warmth to rescuer. Magistrate says legal for rescuers to be on the water, expresses surprise that DSE did not provide care for injured birds at the wetlands - that it was left to duck rescuers to do this. No rescuers convicted or fined. No court costs. Rescuers good behaviour bonds until October this year.

Government departments fail to suppress duck rescuers, waste scarce court resources and taxes

Following a six-day hearing [!] in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court in March this year, five duck rescuers were today each acquitted of four charges out of five. Each were found guilty of only one charge when rescuing waterbirds on wetlands near Kerang, in northern Victoria, during the final weekend of the 2011 duck shooting season.

Magistrate Mealy found the charge of 'hindering' proved against rescuers Luke Milroy and Lucas Treloar. The charge of operating noise producing equipment, being a whistle, in a manner likely to cause unreasonable inconvenience or nuisance to any person contrary to the Wildlife (SGR) Regulations 2004 was proved against Linda Duckham, Penny Cameron and David Mould. They were given undertakings (good behaviour bonds) without conviction.

DSE Prosecution fails to get costs

Prosecution costs of approximately $18,000 were sought by the Department of Primary Industries (DPI), but refused. The Magistrate observed that the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) had not been even-handed in the laying of charges (with the DPI prosecuting). He indicated that the Department appeared to hold rescuers responsible for the provision of vets at the wetlands, when the Department should be responsible for the welfare of wildlife.

Wildlife Officers known duck shooters: conflict of interest needs Omsbudsman

Coalition Against Duck Shooting Campaign Director, Laurie Levy, today said: "Last year, DSE compliance officers planned a 'sting' that was code-named 'Operation Bolte' - after the late Victorian Premier, a keen duck shooter - with the aim of cracking down on rescuers in what can only be seen as a blatant attempt to accommodate their duck shooting mates.

"Most of these compliance officers, who are now all working in the newly established 'Game Victoria' within the DPI, are themselves known duck shooters.

"These officers have a serious conflict of interest which must be investigated by the Ombudsman's office."

Undemocratic abuse of taxpayer's time and overburdened court system

"The charges against rescuers have resulted in an enormous waste of taxpayers' money and court time, especially when Magistrates' Courts throughout the state are clogged up and unable to hear important cases for months on end, and when the majority of Victorians oppose the recreational shooting of native waterbirds and want this activity stopped," Levy said.

Source:
Laurie Levy,
Campaign Director
Coalition Against Duck Shooting
MEDIA RELEASE, Thursday, June 7, 2012

"The car was so fantastic as a rescue vehicle and I am feeling saddened that because of someone hating me so much for helping wildlife that they damaged my car, forcing me to park it elsewhere, this has happened. I recently broke my ankle whilst out checking on animals and relied on my car so much. I cannot continue in the short time doing what I love most, helping the Kangaroos." If you would like to help Leisa to buy another car, or maybe in some other way, we include an address for contact and contributions at the end of this article.

Today Leisa Moore, who looks after the kangaroos in the Adelaide hills, has no wheels. She is still alive, but worries about the kangaroos out there.

On Saturday morning, 2nd June, 2012, Leisa Moore's car was crushed by a tree.

Leisa has been looking after kangaroos for 25 years here. She says that at first it was a fantastic area, but over time mindless hostility towards kangaroos has accompanied population pressure and clearing for development. Kangaroos and kangaroo rescuers are unpopular with people who want to clear land for housing. This has made the kangaroos and her life hell. Although some people appreciate what she does, there is a cowardly group of people who want her to move on and stop helping kangaroos. Leisa is so dedicated - to truth and kangaroos - however, that she refuses to move and continues to go out rescuing in the constantly deteriorating conditions.

Wildlife carers' lives are difficult

This is the lot of so many of Australia's wildlife carers and the public should know. When something goes wrong on top of the general difficulties, it can be very hard to go on. All our wildlife carers need more support and appreciation. Most also need money, but they don't know how to ask for it, even if they had the time.

"I don't know what I am going to do now. I saved so hard to get it and really looked after my car. It was old and I won't be able to get anything as good with what the insurance will pay me as 'market value'. I waited a long time to get a good car as it needs to be reliable in the area I live. I drive in remote areas sometimes to rescue animals. I am already worried about what I cannot do tonight."

Leisa's practice has been to park her car in a particular area near council land and to go on foot to check fences and other hazards where wildlife, especially kangaroos, come to grief. She spends about four hours driving and walking areas each day.

My day starts as soon as it is light to check the roads for injured Kangas and return at dusk after peak hour till dark to make sure there are no Kangas suffering from vehicle collisions. I walk several kilometres checking the vast amount of fencing which is deadly to Kangas of all ages.

During those twenty-five years, but most especially over the past five years, for her troubles, she has been abused, stalked, and had damage done to her car.

In the past few weeks her car tyres have been let down twice whilst she was in the bush checking wildlife.

"Someone stabbed one of the back tyres and did a slow puncture of the other. Before this I found a broken bottle placed under a tyre. Last week I had to buy two new tyres."

Because of the attacks on her car, she accepted when recently a neighbour offered to let her park her car outside his house on the footpath in the same area to make it less obviously a target for the person who had been damaging it. She took up the neighbour's offer on three occasions, most recently Saturday morning.

The Friday evening before Leisa had searched until dark for the mother of a joey she found by itself in the bush. She was unable to find the mother kangaroo and went back home to bed, but she was too worried about the fate of mother and joey to sleep. As soon as it was light she set off to look again for the mother, who she feared was injured and stuck somewhere, unable to attend to her joey. She left her car outside the neighbour's house again, expecting it would be safe.

She says that she got out of the car carrying her 'usual gear' of mobile phone, binoculars, and emergency first aid kit, ready to help any injured animal.

" I had only taken about five steps towards the area I wanted to check, when I heard an amazing noise, one that I know well, the sound of a tree about to crash. I turned and just stared at my car as, with a crash, a huge tree limb thundered down and crushed it. It took all of five seconds. If I had still been getting out of the car, I would almost certainly have been very badly injured or killed."

The SES chain-sawed the limb and removed if from her car, but the tow-truck driver described it as a write-off.

Leisa says,

"The car was so fantastic as a rescue vehicle and I am feeling saddened that because of someone hating me so much for helping wildlife that they damaged my car, forcing me to park it elsewhere, this has happened. I would not have parked in this area under the tree were it not for the recent attacks on my car. I have been parking in the other spot for 25 years, where at least no tree fell on my car.

Now, I am sorry to say, there will probably be many people happy that I cannot continue in the short time doing what I love most, helping the Kangaroos. I recently broke my ankle whilst out checking on animals and relied on my car so much. My ankle will take many months to heal apparently as I have done considerable ligament damage but ... I will keep checking and that is that. I just love Kangaroos so much. I will keep going. I am still a bit shaken over the incident."

Leisa is on a low income and uses her own money to help kangaroos in an area where they are persecuted. She could use financial help to buy a decent car and to help with the expense of caring for the kangaroos.

Candobetter.net would like to make it possible to help her through writing this article and telling you about her good work and hard times. If you would like to help, you could send money or contact her at:

If you want to help Leisa, send money or write:

Bank Details:

Leisa Moore
National Australia Bank.
BSB. 085-221
Acct No 62-224-2063.

Or write to:

PO Box 203, Mylor. SA. 5153.

"Sunshine Coast Council needs to stop approving developments, " says Vegan Warrior, Jaylene Musgrave. The juggernaut that is bulldozers clearing land and councils hell bent on more housing estates, more shopping centres and turning anything that has trees and wildlife on it into a concrete block needs to be halted. Native animals are now seen dead on roads rather than in their natural homes. The Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital in Queensland near the Sunshine Coast sees over 7000 native animals each year, the majority because they are fleeing machinery that is destroying their homes.

Land-clearing Victims

The juggernaut that is bulldozers clearing land and councils hell bent on more housing estates, more shopping centres and turning anything that has trees and wildlife on it into a concrete block needs to be halted. Native animals are now seen dead on roads rather than in their natural homes.

"If we don’t stand up and start making some noise and demanding land be kept for wildlife, we will only have ourselves to blame," says Jaylene Musgrave, who founded Australia's Vegan Warriors in 2008. Jaylene was recently nominated for the Pride of Australia Medal 2010, which recognises people who give themselves without fear or favour and people deserving of our thanks and recognition.[1] You can download a video about Jaylene's work here.

The Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital in Queensland near the Sunshine Coast sees over 7000 native animals each year, the majority because they are fleeing machinery that is destroying their homes. Ms Musgrave says that Vegan Warriors’ barrister, Peter Lavac, has approached Sunshine Coast City Council to stop the over development of the region.

"Council needs to stop approving developments," she says.

Lend Lease: Land-clearing profiteers

On 4 September, Vegan Warrior spokeswoman, Jaylene Musgrave, stated that, "Following several emails exchanged between Vegan Warriors and Lend Lease requesting the developers start putting their money where their mouths are and financially support the rescue, care and rehabilitation of the thousands of native animals injured and displaced by their bulldozers, it seems it is much easier to talk up their environmental kudos than actually do anything substantial."

International alarm at Australia's overdevelopment and wildlife depletion

She complained that that mass land clearing happening on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland, Australia, has attracted the attention of the international press, including the BBC, which commissioned a photographer to fly out to Queensland.

http://koalaland.com.au/6-30-with-george-negus
http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hack/stories/s3220058.htm

Lend-Lease should underwrite the damage it does to Australia's wild spaces and creatures

She described Lend Lease as having a website that "boasts that they 'replenish the planet' and work 'holistically' with the environment. She found these "huge statements" confusing, and her group contacted the developer corporation to ask for an explanation.

"We were told by the Project Manager of the Hyatt Coolum Development, which has left roos and birds without their homes and hit and killed by cars, that we should contact Main Roads to organise signs warning motorists of wildlife."

Jaylene says that this isn't her group's responsibility. She thought that the developers should have already arranged for such signs. She wondered why they did not attend to this as soon as possible.

According to Vegan Warriors a serious financial commitment to the wildlife cause would be a good way for Lend Lease to show that it really cares. Since the Sunshine Coast Koala Wildlife Rescue Service operates 7 days a week without any funding and rescues thousands of animals a year because of the impacts of development, Lend Lease might begin with some good works there. For instance, the rescue service desperately requires a new truck and it would be of great benefit for Lend Lease to donate one.

"Lend Lease, who make millions upon millions through bulldozing the homes of our wildlife need to make financial commitments that equate this, not just donations for local nurseries. The Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital takes in over 8,600 native animals a year, and these are the lucky ones who make it."

Vegan Warriors have extended an open invitation to Lend Lease to ride shotgun with the twin brothers who run the koala rescue service to witness first hand the devastation being caused by over development.

For comments, contact Jaylene Musgrave at veganwarriors[AT]live.com.au
www.veganwarriors.com.au
PH: 0448 310 640

NOTES

[1] "Supreme Master Ching Hai's organisation is the distributor of the award. This is an organisation with bhuddist-like values and a female leader. You can read more on Wikipedia about Ching Hai. Although the organisation has been criticised for a corporate approach to business and the leader for self-publicising, others might see this as putting the enemy of the environment's own methods to good use. Financial inscrutability has also been implied, but the sums involved seem quite small and the criticisms lacking detail compared to what one usually expects of reports on corporate financial misbehaviour, such as with Enron, or Australian political party shell companies. Candobetter.net would be interested to have comments and more information for and against this organisation. It is hard to sustain criticism for an organisation which appears to offer substantial support and publicity to people all over the world who are kind to animals and try to save the environment, especially when our economies are entirely dominated by organisations hell-bent on destroying our surroundings and life support base for profit. The fact that the organisation has a female leader is also an unusual and positive attribute in a world where most religions have male dominated corporate bases.

According to Supreme Master Ching Hai, "The Quan Yin Method requires two and a half hours of meditation per day and adherence to five precepts borrowed from the Five Precepts of Buddhism:

Refrain from taking the life of sentient beings.
Refrain from speaking what is not true.
Refrain from taking what is not offered.
Refrain from sexual misconduct.
Refrain from the use of intoxicants."

Readers may also wonder if candobetter.net has a religious or vegan bias. No. Candobetter.net is a website for reform in democracy, environment, population, land use planning and energy policy. Our writers come from various walks of life, but they all have a commitment to these principles. Human forces working for the environment are rare and you can find initiatives for such reforms in unusual places, some of which do have religious and vegan bases. Conversely, human forces working against the environment are vast, obscenely wealthy and multitudinous and include religious, political and corporate organisations which benefit from property development and consume everything, including their own children's future.

Steve Garlick, a professor in regional economics, and his wife, Rosemary, who is a general practitioner, spend a lot of their time going out to get injured Australian native animals and bring them back to their property. There they undertake comprehensive rehabilitation. They house the animals for a time and then release them.

Most of the animals - even the wombats - are pretty peaceful characters, but Denton Wombat was an exceptional character and this is a marvellous story. Don't let it prejudice you against wombats though! Read more about wombats here.

Not your typical wombat

Denton was never your typical wombat. Named because of all the dental work to fix a fractured jaw when his mother was killed by a motor vehicle, he was happiest sleeping in a red backpack. Initially this was alright but as he continued to grow this soon became impractical. ‘Attack’ was his mode of operation with anything that moved and several of us have the scars on our legs to prove it. He would get up on his hind legs and bring his teeth down into your flesh. He was impossible to outrun and he would knock our in-care kangaroo joeys over like nine pins given half a chance.

Denton takes the initiative

After being in care for 18 months and with spring in the air, Denton, now at 25kgs, had decided it was time to venture into the big bad outside world. We weren’t quite ready for this, we ordinarily release in-care orphaned wombats at around 30kgs and we had not yet found a suitable safe release area for him to go to where the conditions were right. But he was determined. Late one Saturday night he decided it was time to go. He found a weak spot in the corrugated iron wall of his enclosure, worked away at it and eventually clambered out.

Once the escape was discovered a full search was mobilised. After three days of looking there was a report of him being seen in a neighbour’s laundry. With reinforcements, sedation and a thick blanket a wrestling match ensued in the laundry with clothing being spread to the four winds. He was not a happy boy being captured and returned to his enclosure, which in the interim had been suitably reinforced with more iron, metal star pickets and huge boulders to prevent a recurrence of the escape.

Second escapade

Despite the repairs to the enclosure after a couple of days Denton escaped a second time discarding the iron, the pickets and the boulders like confetti. When a wombat makes his mind to go there is no changing it! Signs were put up "Missing Wombat (not friendly)" with the contact phone number. During the Sunday apart from searching for Denton we found several promising, hopefully unoccupied, burrows for him at his new release site. We stuffed the burrow entrances with newspaper to test whether the burrows were indeed still unoccupied after several days. Wombats can have up to six burrows spread around to use as escape hatches when needed.

Sightings of Denton

Various sightings of Denton were reported by neighbours on the Sunday but we always seemed to be 10 minutes behind him when we got there. One neighbour thought they had a burglar when all the shoes on their veranda went flying in all directions during the night. Convinced of their burglar theory they installed a closed circuit TV security system! I told them that it was highly unlikely a burglar would upset the orderly nature of their shoes and that it was more likely to be Denton. Another neighbour said he heard things being thrown around in his shed and when he went to investigate the wombat chased him around his house and then waddled down his driveway.

The search continued on Monday in all drain culverts and other likely wombat resting places. Per chance I thought I would look in our own drain culvert and fortunately there he was. By now it was getting dark and rain was threatening. I had a blanket in the car but no sedative. How would I get him by myself? Surprisingly he responded to my calling and he eventually emerged from the culvert. I threw the blanket over him and held him down - 25kg of writhing muscle. What to do now? With no sedation I wrapped him in the blanket and bundled him into the car and headed some distance up the hill to home. I left the car to get the sedation and because it was now quite dark left the engine running with the lights on. Not a good idea.

Denton at the wheel!

By now Denton had got himself out of the blanket and when I got back with the sedative he was pressing on the car's accelerator and the engine was revving loudly. While the gear was in neutral and the hand brake on it would have been easy for him to knock the gear shift into gear and set the car in motion. I could just imagine the car careering down the hill with Denton at the wheel! How would I explain that to the insurance people? Fortunately he didn't. Turning the engine off I didn't count on him leaning on the car horn continuously despite now being sedated. In fact he fell asleep leaning on the car horn. Fixing this up I let him sleep for a couple of hours until Rosemary arrived home to assist.

Options

Options. We could take him immediately to the release site however it was now quite late, he was too sedated, it was raining and we were still not sure the burrows we had identified were in fact unoccupied. So we decided to put him in one of our other, more secure, wombat enclosures for the night, but we would have to move the occupants (Osh and Gosh) out of their enclosure temporarily. This we did and Osh and Gosh obliged.

By this time Denton, despite being sedated, had made his way to the rear of the wagon so we took the opportunity of driving him to the now freed up more secure enclosure. Taking food into the enclosure for him, I fell into the newly dug trench for the next wombat enclosure we are building and got my foot stuck and couldn't get out. Meanwhile it was now pouring with rain and Denton was getting agitated in the car.

After some time we got Denton into the enclosure with a bag of fresh grass and got to bed ourselves at around 3.00am.

Property inspection

Next day we began plans to move Denton to the release site. When we entered his enclosure he dutifully came out, again in an angry mood (see picture at top of article). Another wrestling match ensued until we bundled him into the cage and the car for the 30 min trip to his new home. No dogs, no humans, good digging, water and other wombats. We positioned the cage near the entry to the burrow and opened the gate. We had expected Denton to just wander into the burrow and go to sleep. Not Denton. Never think you understand wombat behaviour. He went to the entrance of the burrow and came away and did this several times. He then chased Rosemary and I away and, as we watched from the safety of the car, he began to mark his territory in the usual way.

Still not convinced he would make the burrow his new home I tried to coax him into it by moving near to it. Denton thought this a great game and proceeded to chase me around and around the burrow until I was able to escape back to the safety of the car.

We will check on him over the next few days and give you some update reports and, hopefully some pictures in his new surroundings.