Winter 2010 

Nearly half the year gone already!  The rush of animals has slowed down, particularly the joeys, and we can at last take a breather!

The centre has been busy with wildlife care workshops, a reptile information day, the children's Saturday Club, displays/talks to school students and our commitment to delivering activities to special needs groups. 

We have also been hosting a student from our local Polytechnic who wants to become a zookeeper.  He helped us out every Thursday and was with us for 12 weeks.  We enjoyed his contribution, and have missed him since he left.

Thanks to a grant from Cradle Coast Natural Resource Management (CCNRM), the Shadehouse project has been completed, and we are already potting up seedlings for planting around the centre. 

Taking the 'care and conservation' message out to local schools and the community is important in order to raise awareness of the growing number of threats facing our wildlife and to assist us, CCNRM has also provided funding for some educational resources, which is much appreciated. 

CNWCR has sponsored a representative to attend the National Wildlife Rehabilitation Conference inAdelaidein June.  Carers and specialised speakers will be attending from all over the country, - a great chance to share ideas and build strong networks.

There has been no sign of Daz, so we hope that she continues to thrive and that we might catch a glimpse of her one day.

The devil pen didn't stay empty for long….. Now we have a new devil occupying the aviary.  This one had also been hit by a car and came in with a nasty head injury and bleeding from an ear.  She had maggots on her fur, some tooth damage and a torn claw… Paralysis was evident, and she kept her head twisted to one side. 

Initially, the vet gave her some pain relief and we provided a safe warm place for her to rest.  Several days later, we took her back to the vet for further examination.  Her paralysis had improved and she could move her head well, but she had a discharge from her pouch.  The vet gave her an anaesthetic in order to look in her ear to make sure it was clear of discharge and maggots.  She had lost a tooth where her jaw had suffered impact damage from the car.  Under the effect of the anaesthetic her pouch fell open and revealed a delightful surprise of two little embryos!!

Now several weeks after admission, she is continuing to improve and is getting stronger every day.  The vet from the Devil Team has recently checked her out, taken samples and microchipped her.  She continues to improve, now having the full run of the pen to help build her coordination and strength.  It is not certain at this stage if she is infected with the facial tumour disease (DFTD) but we hope she is 'clean' and will be able to be released in the future.

Another successful release has been a little orphaned potoroo.  The pictures below show the little animal resting in its beautifully constructed day nest.  So far so good with the release, we just hope that he can survive the feral cats, raptors and quolls!

Four ringtails, a brushtail and a brown bandicoot have also been released.  A large portion of caring for wildlife involves euthanasing animals who have suffered horrendous injuries from being hit by cars or mauled by dogs and cats and it can get rather depressing.  Successes like these however, inspire us to continue and we just hope that eventually people will get the message to drive more slowly at night and keep their pets inside to stop them from killing our precious wildlife.

                               This Ringtail possum is a redhead, - her beautiful coloured fur is unusual in our area

I love winter, the cold frosty mornings and beautiful clear days.  We have been delighted to see an ever growing number of birds visiting our garden…robins, eastern spinebills, a bronzewing pigeon, rosellas, several silvereyes and the ever present blue wrens. 

                                                         Part of the forest floor near our little creek

Another visitor has been lurking, and a few nights ago killed about eight of our chickens after we were a bit late closing the hens up for the night…..The likely culprit was probably a quoll, and as well as the chickens, it also killed a bronzewing pigeon.  Whilst we are delighted to know that we have quolls about, we obviously have to be very careful locking up the chooks!  Interestingly, the quoll killed the light coloured ones, with the survivors all being black silkies.  I suppose they were a bit harder to see in the dark!?  Quolls go into killing mode and kill everything that moves around them, - they only start to feed when there is no movement.  This action is instinctive, and explains why they kill much more than they could possibly eat.

Winter is a time for consolidation, and as it has been nearly a year since we opened the Centre, a time for reflection and review on our activities, which means more paperwork!!  Not something I relish, but unfortunately, a part of modern life. 

I hope you enjoy the photos, I'm off for a hot chocolate in front of a cosy fire!!        Julia

Autumn 2010

Thank goodness autumn has come around again!  The days are decidedly cooler and shorter.  Two days ago we even had a light frost in the lower paddocks.  After a very dry and hot (by Tassie standards!) summer, this is all very refreshing and invigorating. 

Flooding in the valley in winter 2009

Bad news is that it is mating season for snakes, and yesterday we were shocked to find a four foot tiger snake in our yard close to where our two dogs, Biscuit and Daisy were lolling about, enjoying some sunshine.

Whilst we have been busy this year with removing snakes from other people's yards, we thought ours was far too busy and noisy to attract a slithery visitor.  However, just recently, with recent rain, we have had a lot of tiny froglets over our windows and these may have been too hard to resist for a hungry snake.

Following the successful opening of the Rescue Centre in July last year, we have been busy sorting out resources and catching up with paper work, (so much has been in kept storage during construction) and getting some educational programs up and running. 

We are running activities for adults with disabilities, children and some elderly people who like to come out in a small bus for a cup of tea and a trip down memory lane remembering animal stories from their youth.  Times have changed so much for anyone in their late 70s or 80s it is fascinating to look back to a less complicated world through their eyes!

One of the activities close to my heart is the demonstration 'Backyard Goes Wild' garden.  We have had to fence it off to stop the pademelons eating the plants, and at the moment the weeds are a bit rampant, but now with cooler weather, we hope to start more planting and landscaping.  This project shows how to bring nature into backgardens and gives children simple and interesting activities studying the insects and fauna that are still quite common in the suburbs. 

To teach people about plant propagation, we have also constructed a shadehouse, where we hope to grow plants to re-establish habitats for wildlife.

Injured and orphaned wildlife dominate our lives throughout summer, and this season we have been flat out.  More and more people are using the service and it has been very hard to meet people's expectations, particularly as we are a bit low in trained volunteers at the moment. The public doesn't seem to realise that we are totally voluntary, and that we need to have sleep (calls come in at 2am!) and some time to recharge our depleted batteries. 

CNWCR Executive have put in many hours of volunteer hours to keep the organisation running smoothly. Sometimes it seems like there just aren't enough hours in the day!

Animal wise, things have been rather sad this year.  We started off with two Tassie devil girls, (Janie & Dazza) plucked from their dead mum's pouch on the Cradle Mt road.  

They were followed by a tiny 80gm Eastern quoll who was picked up walking along by himself on a road near Sheffield with no mum in sight.  These babies grew well and we really enjoyed caring for them.

 Quolly got too big to keep in the house and we put him in an outdoor pen, where he self-released (escaped!).  He continued to hang around the garden and we put out little food parcels for him. 

At this time I had two pademelon joeys in the outdoor pen and they were progressing really well.  Unfortunately, a family of Spotted Tailed quolls moved in and within a few days, our little quoll had disappeared, and one of the paddies had been killed and eaten in the pen.  We hope that Quolly just got pushed out of the territory and didn't end up on Mrs Quoll's dinner table.

We put an infra-red camera out near the house and were surprised to see how much activity was going on when we were asleep. 

Staff from Save the Tasmanian Devil Program (STDP   http://www.dpiw.tas.gov.au ) measured, weighed and micro-chipped Janie and Dazza in preparation for their release on our property, and we began the process of separation.  After a final visit in February, the team said they were ready to go, and we opened the gates.  Janie took off up the hill and Dazza hung around our feet.

Sadly, four days later, a friend brought in a body with the unmistakable markings of Janie.  She was found only a few metres from the bottom gate and had been hit by a car.  The vet confirmed her identity with a chip check.  After six months of dedicated care, freedom was a very short experience for her. 

Daz is still coming and going, and looking very fit.  Unfortunately, people drive too fast at night, and many young devils are being hit whilst scavenging on roadsides.  The STDP has launched a flyer asking people to record details and send them in whenever they find dead bodies, so that accurate mapping of population distributions can be made.  With the populations so low, every little devil counts and we feel losses deeply, particularly when we have had such close contact with them.

Typical forest at Ravenhill Wildlife Release area

On the same weekend, I found my second pademelon dead from quoll attack.  I had been keeping him in the house every night, but he was getting too big and restless to keep indoors, and I thought the quolls might leave him alone as he was almost 2kg.  Poor little Buster is now buried in the memorial rose garden.

This year we have had two Marsh Harriers, a Tawny Frogmouth, sparrowhawk and goshawk in care.  The pens are pretty full now with a clutch of four ringtails and a potoroo having a short visit before being released on the property.

Pyrethrum paddocks are prime Marsh Harrier nest sites.  Farmers identify the nest sites to stop them from being destroyed during the harvesting process

Just recently, we were privileged to receive great support from local artist, Jennifer Rowlands.  She held her first solo exhibition in Ulverstone in February and donated the proceeds of the sale of five paintings through silent auction to the group.  This has given us a much needed boost to our activities and we really appreciate her generosity. 

So, in a nutshell, that was our summer,  - never mind Christmas, holidays, festivals etc, - those were just a backdrop blur!  Slowly, though, we are working through the long list of 'things to do' and hopefully, with the cooler months, we will be able to take a bit of a break and catch up with home stuff, family and friends.

Monday 8^th is International Women's Day, and we are holding a coffee morning for 'Women working with Nature'.   I'm looking forward to having a long overdue chat with some very remarkable women and their partners over some delicious cakes and coffee……..

Wishing everyone well for 2010.  Cheers,  Julia

April  2009

It is hard to believe that it is Autumn already, and with the recent cold weather putting snow on the mountains, I guess Winter will get here even quicker…..

Caroline Creek from the Railton Rd, Latrobe

The last four months have gone by in a blur of sleep deprivation and the repetitive routine of bottle feeding joeys five times a day….Getting up early in the morning and going to bed late at night takes a lot out of me these days, (perhaps I'm just getting older!)

Here at Forthside, we have had the usual swag of pademelon and brushtail joeys, which as they get older, pose many challenges to  get them ready for soft release in a few months time. 

The possums have to be taken for long walks riding on my back, going through trees, sampling leaves, learning to climb up branches etc.  Their pens have to be set up to provide them with challenges for problem solving, exercise and boredom busting.  The pademelon joeys are easier, as they are buddied up into small groups and they keep each endlessly entertained.  It is lovely to see them grooming each other and hanging out together.  The recent heavy downpours were a real test of their coat condition, but they seemed to have repelled the water and survived the big wet very well.

To get joeys diets in order, many different types of leaves and seasonal native flowers have to be gathered and presented, as well as keeping their diet balanced and giving them adequate levels of protein, fat and carbohydrate for good muscle growth.  Unfortunately, as they get into nocturnal mode, they get very lively at night just when my biological clock is winding down…. Still, it is most satisfying to see them head off into the bush with glowing coats and lots of hutzpah! This year we will be building some mobile possum pens so that animals can be taken to various release sites that have been kindly offered by nearby landowners.

One big challenge for me has been a brown bandicoot whose mother was eaten by a cat.  The joey was rescued in time, but on examination was carrying old wounds.  One leg was nearly severed and very swollen and there was a gangrenous mess the size of a fifty cent piece on his back, both embedded with dirt.  It took several weeks of persistence to clean up the wounds, and a minor setback when a small hole opened up and started oozing pus, - but now five weeks later, he is only days from release.  I'm just waiting for the final scab to fall off and a good covering of hair over the very large bald patch that was the old wound site.

A white goshawk that was brought in with head injuries as a result of a car collision has made a full recovery and is just being fed  to gain much needed weight before release.  These birds are endangered. so it is always good to return them back to their territory, and I'm sure her mate will be relieved when she shows up again.

Our biggest challenge so far has been the construction of the rescue centre, which is now nearing completion.  Most of the work was financed by the Tasmanian Community Fund, which helped us put in essential services of power, water and sewerage.  Thanks to some very generous support from Biodistributors, we were able to finish the interior lining and are now about to start painting.  The process has taken 16 months, but already community groups are using the facility and a garden is beginning to grow.  There are plans for a Junior Ranger Club and much more, so after many years of planning, it is really great to have people visiting and using the facility and bringing in animals that they have rescued.

Onwards and upwards as they say……  Cheers, Julia