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Feedback on Wildlife Rehabilitation Project
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Wildlife Rehabilitation
Diary by Catherine Bowler |
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I first decided to do
a volunteer placement because I had been in my office job for a while. I
wanted a change and to take a career break for a few months to do
something I would really enjoy and that I was passionate about. I have
always loved animals, so I did a search on the internet and found the
wildlife rehabilitation placement in Australia organised by Travellers. |
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Having been to
Australia before to the East Coast, I had always wanted to return to see
Perth so this placement seemed perfect, combining my passion for animals
in a location I was keen to explore. |
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at the Wildlife Centre was been a great experience for me. A typical week
varies depending on the type of animals that come in and what treatment they
require. |
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General morning duties would be to see to all the educational animals
(permanent residents). This involves taking out food bowls, sweeping the
areas, giving fresh water and replacing food pellets. The other main morning
duty would be the bilbies. This involves weighing and maintaining how much
food has been eaten, replacing pellets, cleaning the boxes and sifting sand.
Also removing waste and debris, raking sand and replacing trees. A volunteer
would do one or the other of these morning duties, followed
by
morning tea around 11am for approximately 45mins. |
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After this I would prepare fruit for the bobtail lizards or clean
aviaries/hot boxes. Depending on what needed to be done I would feed birds,
help with treatments, do the washing up or clothes washing/drying. The main
afternoon duty would be to prepare fruit and vegetables for the educational
animals, then weigh out all the food for the bilbies and western barred
bandicoots and prepare food bowls for the other animals. This was quite a
long process so took some time. Other than that I would help to tube feed
birds or help with treatments.
Then I would take the food out to the educational animals and
then sign out. |
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Saturdays are slightly different as the orphaned joeys are brought in and
one of the morning tasks is to bottle feed them. This was one of my
favourite tasks. |
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A highlight of working at the Wildlife rehabilitation centre was going to
the schools on educational visits. This involved learning about a specific
animal thoroughly and then talking to the children about it, showing them
the animals and answering their questions. I also found it very rewarding to
be able to release an animal because you know that you contributed to
rehabilitating it and have seen its condition improve such a lot from when
it was brought in. |
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I feel I gained valuable
knowledge about Australian animals, their behaviour, diet, anatomy, handling
and treatment of ailments. This is something I am really interested in and
would not have been able to experience in such a hands on way without doing
this kind of voluntary work.
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I worked 4 days a week, and on my days off I used to go for walks along
the Swan River taking in the scenery, or go up to King’s Park. I did some
sightseeing – the Swan Bell Tower, the art gallery and museum. The town
centre is great for shopping or grabbing a bite to eat or a drink, or have a
wander around Fremantle markets to pick up some souvenirs.
Rottnest
Island was one of the highlights of my trip. It was great to hire a bike and
cycle around the island seeing the wild quokkas.
I would also definitely recommend a tour to explore the West Coast. I did
a 10 day tour up the coast to Broome, exploring the coast and taking in the
gorgeous scenery. |
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I thoroughly
enjoyed this project. All the other volunteers were very friendly and
helpful and I got a lot of hands on experience of working with Australian
animals which is what I was looking to achieve from this placement. I got
excellent support from Travellers as well.
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