Holidays are a happy time for most of us, but for wildlife it can be a nightmare. Please put the WILVOS Hotline 5441 6200 phone number into your mobile phone so you can phone immediately if any wildlife are found in distress. WILVOS operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days of the year. Thank you to our lovely phone volunteers who take shifts on Christmas Day and other holidays.
A beautiful little orphaned wallaby came into care this week. Though very small and furless, what is called a ‘pinkie’, he was found because a motorist stopped to take the dead mother off the road and check the pouch. He knew not to pull the wallaby off the teat, but checked and cut the teat at the base of the mother’s pouch. There is no blood and gore! It is just like a piece of string. As more of our wildlife are disappearing each day, every life is precious and this little joey is definitely precious!
As the holiday season approaches, it is a good time to remind everyone to dispose of plastic bags responsibly as it is a time when plastic bait packets and such are blown into the waterways where they can be lethal to platypus in the creeks and to turtles in the ocean. Fishing line needs to be cut into small pieces when disposed of, to prevent entanglement by our wildlife.
Don’t forget to buy wildlife friendly Christmas presents – nest boxes for birds and possums, and make up dreys out of hanging baskets for ringtail possums. Hollow logs on the ground give our little reptiles a safe haven. Your local native animals will be very grateful.
Drive carefully, stay safe and healthy, and prepare for a wonderful Christmas, New Year and holiday time with family and friends.
Donna Brennan Wildlife Volunteers Assoc Inc (WILVOS) PO Box 4805 Sunshine Coast Mail Centre Q 4560 PH 5441 6200 www.wilvos.org.au