April-July 2014: Animal care, tree planting and pen construction

We have had the pleasure of having Paynesville Primary School Grade 6 Students
Simone Turner, Sophie Randall & Shelby Heatley volunteering to help us as a part of their Rotary Community Service Awards.

The girls have helped with cleaning, browse collecting and sorting of seedlings. With a few weeks of work still to go, the girls will be busy helping look after new trees and feeding hungry Koalas. Thank-you to them for their dedicated hard work.

Last month saw the completion of the new outdoor holding pen. With a special thank-you to Derrick Nuttell and Bernie Ryan for their help in the construction. We are very grateful for donated money which has funded this much needed project.

We have also been busy with our Koala browse plantation. Tree planting commenced in May and was finished in June. These trees will provide a critical food source for Koalas in care, for the future. We are very grateful to our very generous Neighbour for donating his land for the Shelter to use. All trees are grown by the Shelter from Island seed.

Donations

The Shelter operates purely on donated money .

Our new Ferry Park sign helps us find much needed support to be able to operate.

The Shelter has incurred to date from January 2013- July 2014 veterinary costs exceeding $6000.

This doesn’t include any other expenses we use & need to operate the Shelter and to expand much needed facilities.

We once again thank everyone for their financial support to help us care for the Wildlife.

Thank-you to Island Artist Brendan Sims for donating his time to help design and paint our sign.

Donations can be made to : Raymond Island Koala & Wildlife Shelter

Bendigo Bank BSB: 633-000  Account No:147871842

Thank-you

April-July 2014: animals in care

Ali, 14 months, enjoying a cuddle

Ali our baby Kangaroo is now 16 months and growing. Ali is now down to 3 bottles a day .He suffered a setback over the past 2 months coming down with pneumonia and E-coli. He is now recovering and slowing gaining weight again.   

Ali on IV drip

Little Nell our baby koala joey is now 19 months and not a baby anymore. She has been soft released and made her home between the Shelter and the neighbours.

Baby Nell, 7 month

Nell grown up - 19 months

April - July 2014: wildlife statistics

Paynesville Primary Grade 6 students

Koalas - 8

1 male & 1 Female found dead, both malnourished, Chlamydia present.
1 male from Granite Rock suffering from head trauma, euthanaised.
5 females all malnourished, Chlamydia present. 4 euthanaised ,1 died in care
1 male joey 10 months old died in care.

Swans - 2

1 young male hit by boat, died in care. 

1 adult male fishing hook in his beak, successfully caught and removed.

Wallabies - 2

Mum carrying baby hit by car in Centre Rd both died.

Kangaroos - 8

Mum carrying baby hit by vehicle, sustained a badly broken leg, she was sadly euthanaised. Male baby was taken into care but sadly passed away 3 days later.

2 juveniles, 1 male 1 female hit by vehicles, Gravelly Pt Rd both died.
2 adult males hit by vehicles Gravelly Pt Rd both died.
1 adult male hit by car at Nicholson was euthanaised .
1 male joey died in care

Mum was hit by a car and baby suffered mouth trauma and shock as a result.

Birds - 2

 Eastern Rosella hit by car outside the Bairnsdale Golf Course remains in care suffering from head trauma and wing damage.
Eastern Yellow Robin died in care cause unknown, unable to fly.

The Shelter wishes to thank all the residents for helping us care for the Wildlife by calling us when an animal is in need.

A friendly reminder to adopt “Island time” while commuting on the Island. With a high number of Kangaroos being hit and killed, we need to just drive a little slower, being extra careful early morning and late afternoon.

Remembering the speed limit is 50km unless signed otherwise.

Kangaroos have poor eye sight and take fright quickly. They are unpredictable in the direction you think they might go often jumping infront of cars without warning.

It was very sad to see one of our rare Albino Kangaroos hit and killed in May.

Shelter End of Year Report

The Shelter officially opened in January 2013. The year was huge with many challenging cases and at times many tears shed. The total number of cases for the year was 76 (52 Koalas, 6 kangaroos, 5 Wallabies, 1 Echidna, 11 birds, 1 Possum). Highlights were the successful releases and hand raising of 3 young orphan babies.

The following statistics are official data lodged with DEPI. We are required to record all animals whether they are found alive or deceased. We encourage the residents to continue contacting us even if the animal is deceased, tagged or untagged we need to record all for accurate numbers.

The Shelter is operated by Susie and Stephen Pulis, who wish to thank the hard work and dedication of fellow Wildlife carers Rosie Nuttall, Shelley Robinson, Mary Dharmarajah, Barbie Richardson & Nancy McMurray. We also wish to thank the Committee and volunteers who worked tirelessly on building works, fundraisers/donation tins, browse plot maintenance, advertisement and hours spent at meetings. Thank you to East Gippsland Wildlife Rehabilitators Group Inc. for endless support and donations. A special mention to Marie –Louise & Charlie for sponsoring Susie as a wildlife carer. Thanks go to Les Bradd, for his hard work in maintaining our browse plots and for helping us feed hungry koalas with browse sourced from his property. Thank-you to Coralie and Peter Foxton, Liz and Jude Gunn, Pam and Ron Basket, Amanda and Julie-Anne for allowing us to cut browse on their properties.

We also wish to extend our sincere thank you to the residents, tourists and the general public for helping us care for the wildlife. Without your calls and generous donations there would be many suffering animals. We are extremely grateful for the support. We rely totally on donated funds and are a non profit voluntary run organisation.

Finally a special thank you to the Main Street Veterinary Practice and special mention to

Jade Hammer, Grant Kuseff, Albert van Zyl & former vet Jason Wong. These hard working, dedicated people make themselves available to us at all times, day and night, to help us treat the sick and injured wildlife. 

Raymond Island Koala and Wildlife Shelter looks forward to another year caring for our wildlife.

March 2014: taking care at night

Our babies in care are Little Nell, our koala joey is now 14 months, growing well and lives full-time outside. At night she is in a secure pen to keep her safe. She will be soft released around 17 months. Ali our kangaroo joey is growing and is now 12 months old. He still requires 5 bottles of milk each day and will be weaned around 18 months.

Don't forget to follow Tim's story - it's on an earlier post on this web site and in the ferry shed. He made an excellent recovery following a dog attack and was successfully released on 26 February.

Unfortunately two older koalas (a middle-aged female and an old male) were euthanased when diagnosed with untreatable kidney failure. Sadly, we also lost Jack, another dog attack victim who had been in care for quite awhile. He suffered further infections after his immune system shut down. This combined with pain and long term treatment took its toll and he couldn’t fight the new infections. Jack was euthanaised under vet's advice .

After 3 weeks in care, we successfully released a bronze wing pigeon that had been taken into care after an old wing injury became inflamed.

Please remember that most dog attacks have occurred during the night - so please keep dogs inside or restrained between dusk and dawn when koalas are on the move.

A special thank-you to all the wonderful residents who help us care for our island wildlife.

February 2014: please remember to put out water for the all wildlife.

Baby Rock 10 months

Rocky today  18 months

 A Special Thank-you to all the wonderful residents who help us care for our fellow Islanders.

Rocky, our first koala joey raised, was soft released 3 weeks ago and now lives between our property and the neighbours. He is enjoying his new found territory. Our resident old male koala, Buster has accepted him and sometimes they even share trees.

Little Nell our baby koala is 13 months old, growing well and now lives fulltime outside. Nell is still on a small bottle of milk each day and is in the process of being weaned. Nell spends her daytime climbing freely in the eucalyptus and Boobialla trees. At night she is in a secure pen to keep her safe. She will be soft released around 17 months. We have nicknamed Nell 'monkey' as she can swing and jump extraordinary distances, up to 3 metres.

Jack's leg is healing

Tim and Jack - both dog attack victims - are responding to treatment. Jack has been with us for 7 weeks and Tim for 6 weeks. Both the boys will be released when well.

A young female koala in very poor body condition was rescued after being found sitting on the ground. Unfortunately she passed away in care 2 days later. A middle-aged male koala was also rescued after being found sitting on the ground and, unfortunately, had to be euthanized due to severe kidney infection.

Ali, our baby kangaroo joey, is growing and is now 11 months old. Ali still requires 5 bottles of milk each day. He spends most of his time in his pouch but is now venturing out and confident to stay out of his pouch for longer periods of time. Ali’s pouch is open front and he has his head out most of the day. He enjoys grazing on fresh grass roots and dirt. Ali loves to go for huge hops and can jump quite high now.

Please keep dogs on leash at all times. At night when koalas are on the move, keep dogs restrained - most of our dog attacks have occurred during the night. We ask residents to please be mindful of your dogs and the koalas. Remember we share our homes with the wildlife and they share theirs with us.

January 2014: koalas and dogs don't mix

Tim, a young male koala was attacked by a tourist's dog. He suffered two very serious puncture wounds. One penetrated through his skull and into his sinus cavity. The other puncture wound penetrated just above his eye. He also suffered lacerations around the eye area. He was treated by Main Street Veterinary Practice, receiving IV fluids and the wound to his skull requiring stitches. He then was treated with injectable antibiotics for 12 days and eye ointment. He is still receiving daily treatment for his eye and will remain in care until his eye is clear. The wound to his skull has now healed over but he will have a permanent hole in his skull that cannot heal.

Jack, an older male koala was attacked by a resident's dog. He sustained deep puncture wounds to his leg and soft tissue damage to his neck and head area. Jack requires ongoing daily treatment to the wounds. He has been with us now for 6 weeks and is responding well to injectable antibiotics and topical antibiotics.

Four koalas were euthanised under veterinary advice. A female joey failed to respond to care after being found on the ground with ulcerated eyes and paralysis of her hands. A male was rescued presenting with nasal discharge, cough and stiffness. After only 2 days in care he deteriorated rapidly. Two females were rescued after being found sitting on the ground dehydrated and in poor condition. They too unfortunately they passed away in care.

Three other koalas - a young male, an older female and an older joey - were also found dead although in excellent body condition. Extreme heat was most likely a factor in their cause of death.

Sadly, a female echidna was rescued after being run over by a car in Fourth Ave. She spent 10 days in care but unfortunately passed away.

December 2013: the past 2 and half months have flown by with the Shelter very busy over the warmer months.

Morgan was successfully released after spending 6 weeks in care due to serious eye & ear infections. He made a full recover and is now back home. Lulu, an older female koala was rescued from Currawong Close after she was found on the ground dehydrated. After spending 12 days in care she was successfully released. We also had the successful release of Mickey and Minnie our young koalas who were in care for a month prior to their release.

Three koalas were found dead in the township area - an older male with a large wound to his rib area (cause unknown) and two males with evidence of dog attacks. An older, extremely thin, female was also found dead and showing evidence of starvation.

Two injured cockatoos were rescued and taken into care but unfortunately passed away.

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November 2013: An extremely busy month for the Shelter with 5 Koalas in care and baby kangaroo Ali.

Barney, our resident male koala for the past 4 months, was successfully released. Another male who had sheltered with an injured arm was also successfully released. Four koalas are currently in care. Mickey is a young male, approx. 16 months old. Suffering from malnourishment, he is with us until he gains enough weight to be successfully released. Minnie is a young female, approx. 17 months, is with us until a wound she has heals. She will be released soon. A young male, Morgan, is approx. 2 years. He sustained a serious eye and ear infection after fighting with another koala. Morgan is on the road to recovery and will be released soon. Rocky, our orphaned male joey, is now 14 months and is with us until suitable for release.

Four koalas suffering injury or illness unfortunately had to be euthanized: 1 male severely attacked by a dog sustained major broken arm and puncture wounds; 2 females due to Chlamydia-related illness; and 1 female unable to walk (x-rays showed very arthritic knees). Three male koalas and 1 female drowned, all found around near the ferry area and along boardwalk. One male koala presenting in a lifeless state died while in care post mortem inconclusive.

Little Nell, our orphaned female joey is now 10 1/2 months and is growing nicely. She will be soft released when old enough. Our orphaned baby joey, Ali, is now 9 months - he is growing well and will also be soft released after 18 months old.

Screech, a mature galah, was injured after being pecked by other galahs, sustaining a wing injury. After trying to rehabilitate for a month, we sadly had to have him euthanised under veterinary advice.

September 2013: Busy month for sick and injured koalas and 3 babies in the nursery

Baby Ali - kangaroo joey

A male koala was taken into care after sustaining a hand injury and he was treated and released. However after sustaining another injury to his claw he was taken into care again. He was treated and successfully released after a month in care. We have a young male koala in care due to severe malnourishment he will be in care long term and released once well again.

A female koala unfortunately had to be euthanaised after falling from a tree when the branch she was sitting on, broke in strong winds. She sustained a broken pelvis and torn popliteal ligament. Two koalas were found dead on the side of the road, unknown cause of death, however body condition was very poor.