Waterholes Wildlife Sanctuary Specialising in Koalas & Kangaroos

1 day ago

Update on Baby Walter & a post on Dog attacks.

Thankyou to everyone for ongoing messages and prayers 🙏❤️

Walter is continuing to improve, his wounds healing well.
The emotional trauma though, will take along time and he's still housed in a hanging pouch in a porta cot, located in a quiet room until I feel he is ready to go out with the other Joey's. He is starting to pop out of the pouch.
He gets frightened very quickly from the slightest noises and some movements and his little eyes melt my heart thinking of what he has been through. His eyes tell the story of his attack.

It is important to understand that dogs and wildlife do not mix.

Raymond Island is abundant in wildlife. It is a privilege to live there and visit and as much as I love dogs, new dogs, visitors dogs should not be allowed on the island anymore.
Years and years of dog attacks has taken it toll on wildlife and the rescuers, carers, vets that have to attend these cases.

I personally have seen far too many deaths and shocking injuries that no one should have to see.
Try and imagine seeing your beloved pet mauled torn apart or dead by a dog attack ,then multiple that by 100s. That's what wildlife carers like myself deal with.

Sadly there is too many irresponsible owners letting there dogs run loose. Koalas of Raymond Island and myself are subject to ongoing emotional trauma of attending and treating these terrible cases.

We ourselves as carers deal with so much death. To then see preventable, unnecessary death and injuries just breaks you at times you feel like you can't go on.

I cannot stress to the public enough, animals attacked by dogs is horrific. I cannot share the photos of some of the attacks, the images are are extremely disturbing.

This little baby was attacked at the back of the island. His mother most likely deceased now from acute myopathy.

Any trauma that causes a Kangaroo to flee, causes the heart rate to rise un naturally which releases toxins called myoglobin.
It breaks down muscle tissue and causes kidney damage leading to failure if left untreated.But most myopathy cases die.

In acute cases like a dog chase, they go into cardiac arrest fast. If a dog chases a Kangaroo it will not live. If the Kangaroo is not caught by the dog, but manages to get away, it will then go and lay down hide somewhere and die from heart failure.

The exception is young Joey's if we are able to rescue quickly, sometimes we can pull them through.
They accept care better than older Kangaroos.
I have rehabilitated a lot of Joey's attacked by dogs over the years with success. Koala Joey's very sadly only 1 ever has survived for me.....💔💔

The smell and presence of a dog, not even chasing, puts Kangaroos on high alert and the public may not even notice the trauma and stress we are causing by exposing Kangaroos and Koalas to dogs.

Koalas are the same, but can't flee at high speeds. They are usually caught and mauled and severely wounded. Even if a wound maybe treatable, they suffer death also from the shock/ trauma and go into kidney failure cardiac arrest quickly.

Koalas and Kangaroos are silent and very rarely verbalise their trauma. But in some really terrible cases, you will hear a Koala vocalising a very disturbing crying sound.

Dog wounds inflicted, cause very serious life-threatening infection and require intensive care. It is a long process to rehabilitate requiring the use of antibiotics, iv fluid, wound flushing/ dressing and supporting medication for pain and shock and supplement feeding.
Even weeks later we can loose them.

Please residents and visitors to Raymond Island, keep dogs on leash at all times and always check your yards for wildlife if you have a dog. I personally would like to see dogs housed like cats, kept inside and well supervised requiring safe, appropriate housing when outside to keep wildlife safe. Hopefully this could work and end dog attacks on our wildlife if residents complied.
Holiday homes places for holidays etc on the Island, should not allow any dogs when people come to stay unless the place provides a secure enclosure for dogs.

Be mindful that you share your home with Koalas Kangaroos and plenty of other species aswell.

Thankyou to the responsible residents of Raymond Island. My post is not attack but to try and educate and stress the importance of looking after Raymond Islands precious wildlife. This also extends everywhere on the mainland where there are wildlife.

Thankyou to everyone who supports the work we do . Wildlife rescue and care is far from easy and all voluntary, we don't get paid.
If you would like to help the wildlife, with their care, you can donate by clicking on this link .

www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=R944ENDSGYPCG

Sorry for long post . ... See MoreSee Less

Waterholes Wildlife Sanctuary Specialising in Koalas & Kangaroos

1 month ago

Latest Update.

The Sanctuary has been very busy with animals in care.
Apologies for lack of posts, it's been a tough 3 months with the loss of a close family member and some very challenging cases that have really emotionally and physically exhausted us. Its been a sad time.

We currently have in care.

7 Koalas
18 Eastern Grey Kangaroos (pouch joeys and out of pouch) including recovering fencehangers and sick.

Despite sadness, we have had some thrilling releases with 12 Kangaroos released in July and 2 Koalas, Ruby and Storm, raised from babies, released start of Spring.
We have another Koala “James” A very very special boy who survived car strike, due be released in November. We have another two other boys, Prince William and King Henry raised from orphan babies due to be released soon also.
Other Koala babies are Penny and Pebbles still very young, to be released next year and Baby Ceridwen our tiny Koala baby on milk 4 times a day.
To see animals grow, recover and finally released, is just amazing and so uplifting to know we have given those animals a chance at life.

The Sanctuary has some special cases at the moment in care which we will share with you in our next few posts.
One of these cases has really pulled at our hearts.
She survived the small bushfire at Wattle Point two weeks ago and is showing enormous strength and fight to pull through despite her nasty burns.
We have called her "Tarryn" named after a beautiful young lady I met many years ago who introduced me to the world of rasing Kangaroos. Tarryn and her family found a baby Eastern Grey, his name was Ali. He was the first kangaroo I raised.
You will meet Koala Tarryn in my next post.

I would just like to say a special thank you to my dedicated volunteers Janis, Stephen, Rob and Jade who work tirelessly each week for the Wildlife.
Also, to my partner Grant, daughter Lillian and son Shaun who support my work and help out with browse collection cleaning washing building works repair maintenance the list goes on!!
What would I do without you all!!
Thank you to the team at Main Street Vet Bairnsdale who are always here us to help look after the animals.

Thank you to those people that continually support us each month🙏. Without these donations, we would struggle. We are purely a voluntary organisation, we don’t get paid and rely on donations to help pay for all the costs involved in caring for Wildlife. It is very expensive.

Thank you also to fellow Wildlife carers. It's a great team effort and it helps to have the support of these awesome people also working tirelessly around the clock.
Special mention to Melrose Wildlife Shelter and Koalas of Raymond Island, how would we all manage without being able to call on each other, thank you. ❤

Thank you to Everyone who helps our precious Wildlife!!

Photos are just some of the animals in care at the moment. ... See MoreSee Less