Each year we receive over 1000 calls from members of the public who have found an animal which is injured, sick or orphaned due to a variety of circumstances such as motor vehicle collision, abandonment by parent animal, attacked by domestic/introduced animals, unsuitable environments, disease and natural disasters.
The following information is a guide and we encourage you to contact our emergency phone line on 02 6456 1313 so our phone volunteer can advise you or so we can send someone out to assist with the rescue.
Native animals do not respond well to human contact and the stress of handling can be fatal to an injured animal or may also result in you becoming injured/seriously ill.
Only attempt the rescue if safe to do so. Use a clean towel, sheet or blanket to rescue the animal. Put the animal in a clean box, pillow cover or carrier and keep it in a warm, dark and quiet spot away from pets and small children. Do not feed or offer the animal water as this can increase the risk of choking or aspiration.
Other important details our phone volunteer will need:
-
Your name
-
What is the animal? Is it an adult or young? If it’s a joey, is it furred or not? Is there more than one animal being rescued (i.e clutch of baby birds, young lizards etc.)
-
Circumstances around the animal being found by you
-
Location of where the animal is found including road name, suburb, GPS (lat/long) pin drop
-
Any landmarks, signage or anything that could help our volunteer find you (or the injured animal if we need to rescue or euthanise)
It’s illegal to capture or keep native animals as a pet. You must hand over all injured or captured wildlife to Snowy Mountains Wildlife Rescue or the local wildlife rescue group if you are in another location.
Many animal species will not survive in humanised environments, and can die of shock as a result. Native wildlife have specific diets and disease can form if feed the wrong food. Many animal species will not be accepted back into the wild if they have been in an incorrect care environment, can be attacked and killed by their own kind, and can struggle to forage for food in the wild resulting in malnutrition and eventual death.
Some animals such as microbats, flying foxes, birds of prey, turtles, echidnas and others require special handling when being rescued due to:
-
The increased risk of being injured by the animal
-
Risk of contracting disease from the animal
-
You inadvertently injuring the animal further during the course of rescue
-
The possibility of a young animal being nearby in a burrow or nest which relies on the parent.
If you have found a snake on your property, please keep pets and children away from it and call us.
Ways To Help Our Native Wildlife
Drive With Care
When driving always drive to the speed limit and stay alert for wildlife on the roads. Many native animals are nocturnal and will forage on the green grass found by the road at dusk and dawn especially as their environment starts to dry out. Animals may also cross roads in search for water or looking for a potential mate during breeding season.
Try to avoid driving at dusk and dawn if you can – and if you must drive during that time consider taking it a little easy and drop a few kilometres off your speed limit. Avoid driving fatigued. Being aware whilst driving will often save the life of a native animal – and hopefully avoid you needing to make an expensive vehicle insurance claim.
I have hit an animal while driving, what do I do?
Our phone volunteers are at their busiest during winter when the region’s population notably increases due to people visiting the ski resorts. More people means more vehicles on the road.
A vehicle collision with a native animal is unfortunate and unpreventable, and it’s important to know what to do to keep yourself safe while trying to help the animal.
In NSW, it is every driver’s legal responsibility to stop and render assistance (if safe to do so) to an animal that has been hit by their vehicle.
Please assess the situation before you attempt to assist an injured animal or remove a dead animal. If you have hit an animal or find one that has been hit by a vehicle, always take care when pulling over and exiting your vehicle. If travelling with someone else, always have someone monitoring oncoming traffic.
If you can not safely take the animal off the road due to high traffic or it being a dangerous location, call the police. Many animals are hit on our roads and left there injured or dead. This creates a traffic hazard for other drivers who may not see the animal until they are close to it and may not be able to safely avoid hitting it causing damage to their vehicle. When pulling a dead animal off the road, pull it well onto the grassed verge.
It is advised to not attempt to remove an injured adult kangaroo from the road. Adult kangaroos can still be mobile even with a broken leg and they also have a decent set of claws which can cause serious injury.
Control Domestic Pets
Cats and dogs can be destructive to local wildlife if not kept under control. Keep your goodest boy or girl on a leash when walking unless you’re in an off leash area. Keep cats indoors at night time. Never dump unwanted pets as not only is it cruel to the pets, it will impact the local wildlife.