I feel priviledged :)

[kimberley breeder]

I am a volunteer carer for injured wildlife here in Kununurra. I brought home a GORGEOUS Buff banded Rail yesterday. Ill post pics soon!

[Pete Sara]

we got them at work lovely things , love looking for bugs by your feet , muz(murray) had them ... dont forget to ask him for info....pete

[Jayburd]

They are so beautiful we have them at the zoo

[GregH]

Hi Kimberly Breeder,

I hope your rail recovers well. Within our compound we have a new Australian family and the wife used to be a WIRES member before she moved overseas and she was telling me that if wildlife is assessed as not being able to be rehabilited because of injury or imprinting then the policy is to euthanase them. Surely there must be other avenues if a suitable home can be offered? Do you have alternatives? I've been wondering about my the fate of my half blind hanging parrot and the guaiabero parrot if it can't fly. The nearby parrot rescue centre is almost certain death as it seems to be a place whose main purpose is to simultaneously propagate macaws and psittacine beak & feather disease. The vets at the local university expressed an interest last week but I don't know if they are up to doing fruit eaters - I can only hope.

On an even more somber note I saw the news about the fire in El Questro. Do you work with Turia Pitt?

[E Orix]

Greg
Your comment with regard WIRES is not just limited to your old area.
The people here are useless when it comes to avian species,knock them over and we don't need to do anything with them.
All they are interested in are small fury animals,young Kangaroos(pest),Possums,Wombats and the dream animal a Koala.
They can ooh ahh about them and say how cute they are and how marvellous they are saving these animals
Yet give them something worth saving, no its not in the scope.
I am generalising but no they are not that great in my eyes(apologies to the few good ones)

[jusdeb]

Same here ...rang wires , volunteer answers with no car so we dropped bird off .
As soon as it squawked it was put outside in an aviary because the noise would disturb the ridiculously large mob of baby roos hanging from every available spot in their nap sack thingies .

Asked what was the next step ..answer porridge and milk and off to the vets the next day "HELLO "birds cannot digest lactose and another" hello "your putting this bird in to a aviary at night only because it is noisy .

If they cant handle bird injuries then they should not take them on ... divide WIRES into 2 departments being "cute and cuddly " and " avian ".

Not happy with local vets who will tell you to ring its neck if its a galah or duck as they are not WORTH saving ...PALEASE .

[Myzomela]

Just like everything in life there is good and bad.

And like it or not, many wildlife organisations attract people with nurturing needs- read "child substitutes"- hence the cute & cuddly furries get preference for many.

Unfortunately, many just end up being pets and are totally unsuitable for release into the wild.

There are those carers with great skills, common sense who try to not "mother" their charges and try to socialise them with others of the same species and similar ages, ensure they can forage properly, are still wary of humans and dogs etc but these people who see the bigger picture are outnumbered.

Then there are the bird carers who usually just do birds, and many specialise further and just do a few species eg raptors.

Deb, the vets' attitude leaves a lot to be desired but there also needs a balance when treating wildlife. You can't go spending hundreds/thousands of dollars on common species- who is going to pay for it? Having said that, each individual needs to be treated humanely, and if the animal has a poor chance at total recovery then euthanasia is often the best option. That is not to say thet you won't try just because an animal belongs to a common species.

Wildlife rehabilitation is a complex issue on many levels.

[finchbreeder]

Lucky in that we have a couple of bird carers who do. And a couple who are Raptor specialists. And a vet who is trying to learn to be a good bird vet. And slowly succeeding.
LML

[jusdeb]

Myzo totally not against euthanizing a bird with multiple injuries that would cost a small fortune to fix ,however if the vet were to say " bring it in and Ill humanely put it to sleep " Id understand ,not tell me ( a female ) to ring its neck .

All this did was prolong the poor things suffering as I do not know how to ring a birds neck .

[Myzomela]

Agreed Deb,

That is a job that the vet should be willing to undertake. It should not be your responsibility!