By Clementine Liebenberg
Australia’s 15,000+ wildlife volunteers work relentlessly, under intense conditions, donating their time and resources to help rescue, rehabilitate and release our precious native wildlife.
The podcast currently has 10 episodes available.
In this episode we are near Braidwood in the Southern Highlands of NSW, visiting Dr Howard Ralph and his team who run the Southern Cross Wildlife Hospital. Dr Ralph is one of few wildlife specialist vets in the state. This clinic is set in remote bushland, and carers from far and wide bring their animals here for treatment they can't get anywhere else. The team works late into each night to meet the demand.
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In this episode we visit Higher Ground Raptor Centre - the most significant raptor rehabilitation centre in Australia. Peggy McDonald is a national treasure and she talks intimately about her home and work.
In Australia, 13 of our 35 species of raptors (birds of prey) are listed as threatened, with every individual holding high importance to the survival of their species. Data collected and analysed by NSW NPWS over the past decade show that the work of raptor rescuers and rehabilitators is vital to the conservation of raptors in Australia. Unfortunately, raptors are significantly affected by human development, as well as changes in climate.
In this episode we also talk about the NSW Volunteer Wildlife Rehabilitation Strategy from NPWS, and how critical it is that wildlife carers keep abreast of the latest rehabilitation techniques here, and overseas.
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On Sydney's suburban fringes, Koalas are having a resurgence - and this is great news. But it is happening right where the slow crawl of urban development is encroaching on their habitat. Meanwhile on the Liverpool Plains, a farmer collaborates with a researcher to break a few truisms about Koalas - and help the species to survive extreme weather events in the process. We look at the cutting edge Koala research that could make a difference to conservation futures, knowing that Koala numbers in NSW have been declining rapidly, with disease and habitat loss being the contributors.
We also touch on the Koala Strategy, which is an initiative of the NSW government that aims to stabilise and then increase koala numbers. This is to be done through a range of actions such as creating reserves, decreasing koala roadkill events, increasing wildlife carer and veterinary training and funding research.
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Bats are a keystone species on the east coast of Australia, with a critical role to play in maintaining our diverse flora, and keeping our forests healthy. They’re also misunderstood and feared as carriers and spreaders of zoonotic disease. Bats are profoundly vulnerable to increasing extreme weather events, dying in their tens of thousands in each of our ever intensifying heatwaves.
In this episode we visit Kukundi Wildlife Shelter to understand more about the value of bats in nature, and hear some successful rehabilitation stories.
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Data collected by NSW National Parks & Wildlife over recent years is revealing the tremendous results of wildlife rehabilitator efforts - with nearly 700 species and 85,000 individuals being rescued a year. This rescue data (from 2014 to 2018) has recently been made public as part of the NSW Volunteer Wildlife Rehabilitation Sector Strategy and can be found on the NPWS Wildlife Rehabilitation Dashboard on the NPWS website.
To discuss the data and what it tells us, three guests from the team who have done the painstaking work of analysing that data join us - and they’re excited by what they’ve found.
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Catastrophic events are all too frequent - flood and fire all take their toll on wildlife and wildlife carers are always there to pick up the pieces. So how do we best recover and look after ourselves, and our animals, after we've been on the front line of a traumatic wildlife rescue emergency?
We hear from:
Jessi Jean Drew Smythe, WIRES volunteer and bat carer, studying environmental biology at the University of Technology in Sydney.
Lyne Page, TAFE senior counsellor, volunteer field psychologist with Red Cross, and a member of the disaster response network with the Australian Psychological Society
Further information:
Two Green Threads – advice and mental health support for wildlife carers
Wildlife Heroes - for carers, from the Foundation for National Parks and Wildlife.
Please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 if this conversation has brought up strong feelings and you are having trouble coping.
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We're all in this together - so how best to support and encourage our fellow wildlife volunteers when they struggle?
Guests:
Tilly Gray, wildlife carer who loves all animals (humans included!) and is currently working on “The Wildlife Carer Rehabilitation Manual - How to Care for Human Beings”
Sally Gillespie, a former psychotherapist who presents talks and workshops on climate psychology and ecopsychology and has written a book, Climate Crisis and Consciousness: Re-imagining Our World and Ourselves.
Further information:
Two Green Threads – advice and mental health support for wildlife carers
Wildlife Heroes
Please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 if this conversation has brought up strong feelings and you are having trouble coping.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The pressures are great, so what happens when we stop getting along? We consider conflict - from individual, to in the group, to with the larger community and how wildlife volunteers can build and maintain positive and supportive relationships.
Guests:
Jess Birrell, wildlife volunteer, reptile trainer and expert.
Lyne Page, TAFE senior counsellor, volunteer field psychologist with Red Cross, and a member of the disaster response network with the Australian Psychological Society.
Further information:
Two Green Threads – advice and mental health support for wildlife carers
Wildlife Heroes
Please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 if this conversation has brought up strong feelings and you are having trouble coping.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Wildlife care is 24/7 as we all know. So how do we make time for ourselves, and what can we do to ensure we remain well, and are able to keep caring?
Guests:
Suzy Nethercott-Watson, a carer for 20 years, and the director of Two Green Threads - a website built specially to support wildlife volunteers in the work they do.
Sharon Draper, animal lover and Sydney based psychologist with an interest in trauma and compassion fatigue.
Further information:
Two Green Threads – advice and mental health support for wildlife carers
Wildlife Heroes
Please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 if this conversation has brought up strong feelings and you are having trouble coping.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Each single animal we rescue takes hours, days, weeks and months of care. But the big picture remains grim. How can we take care of ourselves as climate warriors and climate worriers?
We speak with:
Dr Ros Irwin, a veteran carer and President of Friends of the Koala from Lismore in NSW.
Sally Gillespie, a former psychotherapist who presents talks and workshops on climate psychology and eco-psychology.
Further information:
Two Green Threads – advice and mental health support for wildlife carers.
Wildlife Heroes
Please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 if this conversation has brought up strong feelings and you are having trouble coping.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The podcast currently has 10 episodes available.