Join us at our next meeting, which will be held on Saturday 4th of February at the Golden Square Senior Citizens Rooms at 13:00.

**** WRIN wishes everyone a safe and Happy Christmas ****

Member John is one of WRIN’s busiest rescuers, attending wildlife in need day and night, sadly many of John’s call-puts are for badly injured macropods that need to be euthanased. John would like to upgrade his gun and requests any person who has, or knows of, a good reliable gun for sale to please contact me and I will pass on the details, call 54 612970. WRIN has several members who can humanely euthanase large animals. The rules and regulations of the National Code of Practice for the Humane Shooting of Kangaroos and Wallabies by the Australian Government is strictly followed regarding the euthanasing of injured kangaroos and wallabies. Most members who have gun licenses have also attained their accreditation after special training in the use of firearms by the Firearm Safety and Training Council, this training not only covered using the firearm but covered all aspects of safe use and care.

Our last 4 meetings have all included a speaker, the Christmas meeting included a small power point presentation on caring for burnt macropods; February included a talk from the RSPCA Inspector stationed in Bendigo, members learned a little about the duties of the inspector and ways in which we can assist each other.

The April meeting took place shortly after the Grey-headed Flying Foxes arrived in Bendigo. We were lucky to have flying fox carer Bev Brown from Melbourne drive to Bendigo to give us a short talk on these beautiful creatures, the talk was short and very interesting, questions from the approximately 50 present took almost an extra hour.

With very few days notice we were very lucky to be able to organise Jennefer Macleod from the Tolga Bat Hospital in far north Queensland [near the Atherton Tablelands] to talk at the June meeting. About 30 WRIN members and members of the public attended the wonderful talk. Jennefer had a power point presentation which included pictures of micro and mega bats from all over the world, some of them truly had faces ‘only a mother could love’! Jennefer also had a film showing the hospital as well as bats in care at the hospital. Lots of oooh’s and aaaah’s when that was shown. The hospital has been operating for about 15 years and was opened primarily to care for bats suffering tick paralysis which occurs between October and December, this coincides with the birthing season for the bats and means many babies end up as orphans. The survival rate is good providing the babies are found in time.

A little more information on the Education Guidelines being formulated also the guidelines for caring for wildlife. Most comments have been on the positive side, some negatives though with the occasional threats to close down. What must be remembered is the welfare of the wildlife in care is the reason for setting up these guidelines not how we, as shelter operators or carers, feel about having to answer questions regarding our knowledge. For far too long poor and bad care has gone on, it has always been the wildlife that has suffered. How wonderful to know that in the future wildlife will have a much better chance of surviving without pain or stress while in care. I suggest spending time talking to others, learn from their experiences and mistakes, get rid of ego’s and welcome a better future for wildlife. I can hardly wait.

If anyone tried the Yummy Scrummy Choc Banana cake from the last edition of The Wild Connection I hope you realised the cooking temperature noted –150F for a fan-forced oven was an error and should have read 150C

Ros showed me the feet of the second wallaby and asked what I thought, her pads had been burnt away but the flesh on the underside of the feet was also blistered, particularly on one foot, I said I would give her a few days to see what happened. Wet dressings were done every morning on both burnt wallabies. After 4 or 5 days the wet dressings were discontinued and daily dressings using a specific burns cream [Silvazine] began. I was pleased with their progress, especially Lily’s. After about a week the upper side of the feet of both wallabies developed the same problem, presenting first with Lily. There had been no indication of any problems anywhere other than the underside of the feet, but then I had seen the same thing happen to Icarus, a Black Wallaby treated for burnt feet 12 months earlier. Lily was having her feet flushed one morning – this is done gently but firmly – when an area of furred skin on the upper left side of one foot sloughed away and exposed an area of bare flesh about 1cm x 1cm with pus around the edges, the area was cleansed with saline then treated with a different cream than what was being used for the burnt area, a cortisone based ointment, a mix of antibiotic, anaesthetic and pain reliever and it worked exceptionally well. The same happened to Lily’s other foot and she ended up with 2 large raw areas on the upper side of each foot as well as burns coming out along the outer edges of both feet. Exactly the same thing happened with Rosie. Also at some stage prior to capture but after the initial burns Lily must have stood on a still burning twig that had burnt deeply into the flesh, this had been covered over by the drying off of the burnt flesh over the entire foot and was exposed as we gradually sloughed off the dead and dry burnt skin, what a shock that morning as the dead flesh slowly sloughed away exposing a long weeping jagged burn line beginning on the main toe and extending about a third of the way down the foot, it looked as if someone had pressed a scalpel blade into the flesh and ripped downwards.

The day before Lily arrived I had noticed Rosie was beginning to walk unevenly as though it was painful to walk – what a silly statement when you consider both feet were burnt raw! On examination I found what looked and felt like a corn developing right in the centre of the main toe. The next morning it was off to the vet to have this area checked out. It was diagnosed as a corn but the vet wasn’t sure whether to surgically remove it right then or wait for the burn to heal before opening the foot. I suggested doing it right away rather than waiting several weeks then opening up a freshly healed area and risking infection problems so it was done straight away. The large hole healed over amazingly fast, in less than 48hrs you would hardly know a crater had been gouged out of the flesh and Rosie was obviously feeling much better, so much so that she decided to liberate herself by trying to break out through the bedroom wall.

It was decided a change of scenery was needed and that’s when the computer room was cleared out and the wallabies moved in. Everything that couldn’t be removed was covered with sheets. It was relatively plain sailing for a while, dressings were done daily for 3 weeks, the 14 large towels covering the waterproof sleeping bags and blankets that were covering the floor were changed and washed daily before my helper arrived to hold the sedated wallabies while I did the dressings. Lily was never happy and not long after arriving it became necessary to board up the lower half of the full length window. As more time passed it became obvious that the 2 wallabies were not getting on and we had outbreaks of fighting and even more mess to clean up so the room was laboriously divided in half so each had a separate area, this behavior wasn’t all that unusual as we were dealing with larger animals, nowhere near adult but definitely not pouch babies.

After 3 weeks the dressings were changed to every second day, this went on for about 3 weeks then extended to every third day. Eventually the time between became longer. After about 7 weeks it was decided to leave the feet unwrapped to see what happened. By this time the feet of both wallabies were developing small areas of new grey pad except for the area around where the corn was removed from Rosie’s toe, there was no sign of new pad growth in this area. A concern with leaving the feet uncovered was damage to the fresh new skin which was quite dry and looking really good. It was decided to try an over-the-counter Vitamin A healing ointment to assist in 2 ways, firstly to keep the new skin moist and prevent cracking which would be disastrous and secondly to hopefully assist with new growth. The Ungvita was put on reasonably thickly and the feet covered with gauze then vet wrap, at the second change of this new dressing the Ungvita was applied in a thinner layer and I spent several minutes gently massaging the ointment over all new areas and between the toes, this application and massaging went on at each foot examination, occasionally I would choose to apply a dressing if I thought it necessary.

By now the time required for treating the feet had been reduced from a minimum of 2 hours to about an hour. Soon I began sedating them once a week to give the feet a thorough check over, Lily was never easy to capture but once in my arms was fine, between the 2 of us we developed a routine that I named the ‘capture ballet’ the scenario was exactly the same each time, slow and quiet manouevres culminating in a bottle of formula once in my arms. Rosie allowed herself to be picked up but once in my arms told the world she wasn’t happy with loud screams, growls and meowing, all the time kicking her legs, she was picked up only for sedating. Funnily enough right up until the day of release she would tumble herself into the hanging pouch in her section of the room, she would either lay in bed or stand for her milk [not once did Lily ever get into her pouch voluntarily].

One morning it was obvious that I would no longer be picking up and sedating Rosie to check her feet, she had grown into such a big strong animal weighing almost 7kg that I could no longer hold her securely and there was too much risk she would injure herself – she drew blood on my arms or legs every time without fail. From then on brief checks were done while she lay in bed taking her milk, these checks were mostly accepted with good grace and little, if any, vocalisation.

Several days prior to their release it was becoming obvious that both animals wanted to be gone, their behavior had been changing dramatically over the previous few days, my nights were spent listening to their arguing and banging and worrying that one would attempt to leap into the others area and be injured. It was with mixed feelings that I rang Ros early one morning after very little sleep and said they had to go, preferences would have been another couple of weeks in care. Their stress was showing in a number of ways, one of the most common and obvious – the poo – it was changing from beaut easy to pick up balls to a much softer consistency and a much greater volume, I was now changing the 14 towels at least twice a day, thank heavens for those hot summer days.

The following day they were sedated for the last time and transported back to a safe spot with lots of fresh food, water and nice soft substrate. How Ros Alderson managed all her charges I’ll never know, she had many more burn victims in care plus all the regulars. Lily and Rosie combined with the dozen others in care took all of my time and energy which was made much easier with the assistance of Katja who missed only 2 days of helping with the dressings and feeds of the other animals in care.

Another WRIN fund raiser is selling raffle tickets at the end of the year, each person does a 2hr block once a week for about 6 weeks. If you have extra time, put your hand up for more, it’s fun and an opportunity to meet and chat to members of the public. The grand finale is dinner for all involved, and that’s a great night.

Cheryl and Myree also hosted a rescue training session earlier in the year, it was well attended, I believe some of those present requested further explanations on how to go about the various activities so another evening is planned. Thanks also to Kathy who worked through the rescue booklet, explaining the various ways of rescuing. If you want more training or questions answered, you can call me [54 612970], Cheryl or Myree or bring it up at the next meeting.

The Common Ringtail can be found in rain forests, forests, woodlands, and scrub habitats. Their habitat usually contains trees and or scrubs that provide them with palatable foliage to eat, and a dense tree and or shrub layer to allow them to move about without descending to the ground. Common Ringtails are rare in Snow Gum woodland but they are found in montane Alpine Ash forests usually along drainage lines where there is a dense tall shrub layer. They may also be common in wet eucalypt forests and in moister forests and gullies in foothills of the ranges. Dry mixed stringybark, peppermint and box forests are another habitat they may be common. There are usually high numbers in coastal tea-tree shrubs and large populations exist in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne and other urban areas. They readily recolonise regrowth after logging. As mentioned above, their distribution can be patchy in the box-ironbark forests of Central Victoria particularly in the western areas e.g. they are quite common in places around Maldon and at Teddington Reservoir but are rare around Maryborough. In the box-ironbark forests, Common Ringtail Possums den in hollows, this habit could control their numbers where there are few hollows or competition for the few that are available. In box-Ironbark they are more likely to be found along drainage lines where a few old trees with hollows remain.

In the forests of the divide, urban areas and coastal shrubs Common Ringtail Possums mostly den in ‘dreys’ (spherical nests of twigs, fern fronds, leaves, grass or bark and lined with fine bark, small twigs or moss) and placed in the fork of a shrub or tree.

Recorded densities range from 34 individuals per Ha. to only 0.15 per Ha. Food source and availability of hollows where used would control densities.

Ringtails usually live in a family unit comprising 1 adult male, 1 and occasionally 2 adult females and offspring from the previous breeding season. The family unit dens together and occupies a common home range. Ranges of females from adjacent groups may overlap but males tend to hold ranges exclusive of other breeding males.

Young are born between April and December with most appearing in winter. Usually there are 2 young but this can vary from 1 to 4 . Usually there is only one litter per season but some older females can raise 2 litters.

The young spend the first 4 months in the pouch and the next 2 weeks in the nest after which they ride on the mothers back while she forages. At 8 months their presumed father takes over their care until they are weaned at 5 to 8 months. During this time they spend their days in the nest with him and are also groomed by him.

Common Ringtail Possums have been recorded as living 6 years in the wild but most don’t survive more than 3 years and at least one half of those born will not survive beyond 1 year, environmental conditions will have a lot to do with these figures.

The Common Ringtail Possum consumes mainly leaves but some flowers, fruits and buds may also be taken. A wide range of trees and shrubs are eaten but in a given locality only a small number of species will form the greater part of the diet. In one study in a forest habitat 60 to 98% (depending on season) of the diet consisted of eucalypt leaves, in coastal vegetation they fed almost entirely on Coastal Tea-tree. In gardens many introduced plants are eaten with roses being among the favourites.

There is a large variation in the palatability and nutritional value of leaves, and ringtails are highly selective, choosing not only preferred species but also individual leaves and even parts of leaves. While in care a number of tree/shrub species should be offered with varying leaf stages.

Common Ringtails produce 2 distinct faecal pellets, during the day [approx 6am-6pm] they pass, and eat, soft, moist pellets that are high in nutrients. During the night when they are active the faecal pellets produced are hard, dry and fibrous, this is because some of the contents have been digested twice.

Unfortunately apart from native predators such as owls the introduced fox and cat prey heavily on possums. We should not accept that native animals are a ‘natural’ food source for these introduced pests.

A study done in NSW with 84 hand reared ringtail possums showed that their average length of survival was only 100 days, varying from animals being killed on the first night to 2 surviving three and a half years. Apart from one animal all deaths were due to predation and 80% were killed by foxes or cats.

In the same area 27 wild ringtail possums were trapped radio collared and released with their fate being similar to the hand reared possums, 22 were killed by fox or cat, 3 by pythons, 1 undetermined death and 1 on the road.

Rescue, capture, handling and transport

Macropods

Possums

Small and large birds

Water birds and raptors

Reptiles and amphibians

Koalas and echidnas

Bats [micro and macro]

Wombats and other mammals

Rehabilitation and release

These workshops are full day affairs, beginning at 9am and finishing around 5pm, they are often intense and sometimes challenging but the end result will be better care for wildlife in the future.