Jo Digger, the Echidna

my little Jo Digger, the Short Beaked Echidna.

Little Jo Digger was unfortunately run over by a tractor slasher and had a nasty cut on his back,
thankfully someone found hims and he was brought into care, he was the most gorgeous little critter.
Unfortunately after 6 weeks in care, poor little Jo died of a major infection, which obviously no amount of anti-biotics and love could fix.
We were very sad, but we tried our best. This is one of the hard time in looking after injured babies, you get so attached to them.

I feel very honoured and lucky to have been up close and personal with such a fascinating and delightful little charactor who let us help him as much as we could.

Sweep, the Cuckoo-Shrike

successful release

Phil & Lil, the Yellow-Bellied Sunbirds

Phil was successfully released, unfortunately, poor Lil became a snakes breakfast!

Phil being fed by his mummy & daddy bird

Kwila, the Striped Possum

Beautiful little 'Kwila' was found as a tiny baby in a tree surrounded by dogs, his mum was nowhere to be seen.
We have been lucky enough to baby..er.. possum-sit him quite a bit.

'Kwila' is nearly full grown in these photos, they are quite small possums.

Striped Possums are very rare and very shy, so not many people get to see them.
'Kwila' will be released at the end of the year.

Annie, the Striped Possum

'Annie' was found (post-Cyclone Larry) at the bottom of a banana bin. She was very thin and very thirsty.

'Annie' had a terribly infected eye, which although treatment cured the infection, she has lost sight in that eye.
The vet said that if she were a young possum, we could release her, but because she is old and has worn teeth, it would be cruel.

So she is staying at the Badcock Home For Retired Possums and living it up.
She is having a lovely time in her dotage, she pops her head out at night and finds avocado, special high protein cereal and insects all laid on.

A recent photo taken of Annie on one of her visits to the environment centre.
The lovely couple who took the photo sent me a copy. Thanks Heike & Oliver.

Annie is obviously very photogenic (wriggly, but cute).
The next 3 pics were taken by the lovely Anna from Sydney, must be the name that makes them so nice
(of course I won't mention that my full name is Sally-Anne ... sshh :-)

Thanks heaps Anna

Cassowaries

Camilla, Raider & Rebel

Although the cassowaries are not really rescue animals, they do fit sort of into the category.
As we are supplimenting their diet at an approved feeding station whilst there is little fruit for them in the rainforest.

Amy, the Green Sea-Turtle

Amy was found floating around in the water off our beach.
They estimated she was aged around 80 years old, she weighed around 100kg on release.

She had a condition called Floating syndrome.
This is caused when sea turtles ingest foreign matter such as plastic bags or fishing line.
Sea turtles have downward facing spines in their throats, which literally prevents them from regurgitating.
The plastic gets trapped in the gut, preventing food from going down and the spines prevent it from coming back up.
The trapped food starts to decompose, leaking gases into the body cavity and causing the animal to float.
The turtle then slowly starves to death or succumbs to other secondary life threatening conditions such as barnacle colonisation, sun damage or boat strike.

Amy was lucky enough to be rescued.
She was taken to the Turtle Hospital in Cairns where they drilled a hole in her shell (carapace) to let the air out.
They then bogged her up with fibreglass and gave her anti-biotics to prevent infection.

She was well fed and re-hydrated and eventually released back onto our beach.
It was very emotional watching her being released back into her home. She was very beautiful.

We are so lucky to share our lives with these fabulous creatures.

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