Perth, WA Australia
January
11th 2016
Monday morning I was working the
morning shift again, this time with Wendy who was really nice. I focused on
helping with treatments, as opposed to feeding and cleaning. I had a break in
the afternoon before coming back for the night shift. This is when I
encountered The Demon. In actuality it was just a harmless huntsman spider. I
actually felt a little bad killing it, since it posed me no threat. But I was
running late for my shift, knew I wasn’t brave enough to catch it, and frankly
it nearly gave me a heart attack since it was the biggest spider I have ever
seen in my life. So I bravely nuked it with bug spray and dragged the corpse
outside. RIP demon. The evening shift went well, where I helped with more
treatments and tube feeding, and got to meet a cute little bee-eater, a tiny
migratory bird.
January
12th 2016
Tuesday I got the most exciting news
of my life, that I passed the North American Veterinary Licensing Exam!!! I
happened to wake up and check my email at 4:30am, and it was hard to go back to
sleep after that. I’m still riding the high. :)
I was again working the morning shift. I really
liked the Tuesday AM team, they’re a fun bunch. Allan the supervisor made sure
to introduce himself and to tell me I should focus on doing veterinary stuff,
which I thought was very sweet. I was working with Carol on treatments during
the morning. And I saw my first mammal come in! A poor little possum came in.
Little guy wasn’t using his hind legs, so we suspected a broken back and sent
him down to the veterinary hospital.
In the evening I helped with feeding
the resident animals again. This time I got to go feed the tawny frogmouths.
They are such strange, fascinating birds, but man do they not like to eat
before it is dark out. Took a while to get them to take the mice. We also had
an injured peregrine falcon in, which was pretty cool (and sad, as the bird was
in rough shape after being hit by a car. His eye was pretty swollen, which is
not good for a bird of prey. We didn’t have anyone to put him down right away
and we wanted to give him a chance because it’s amazing what heat and TLC can
do, so he was scheduled to go to the veterinarian the next day.
January
13th 2016
Wednesday I did something a little
different. I’d heard a lot about Sue Turner and the work she does with orphaned
Joeys, so I got in touch with her to see if I could come help. One of her
volunteers, Kelly, drives by Kanyana on Wednesdays on her way to Sue’s, so she
was able to pick me up on her way. Kelly was really nice, and we talked about
all the differences between Canada and Australia. Along the way we
unfortunately spotted a dead kangaroo. After a couple minutes Kelly turned
around and we stopped to check on the kangaroo. I didn’t get it at first, but
then I realized she wanted to check if it was a female with joeys in the pouch.
She told me the little tiny joeys can survive for days after the mother is
dead, and most of the kangaroos Sue sees are victims of vehicle collisions.
When we got to Sue’s I was just in
awe. Sue runs Blue Gum Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation out of her own
home, pouring in all her own time and money to help the joeys and other
animals. Sue wasn’t there when I first arrived, but the rest of her team
Sheila, Donna, and Evelyn made sure I felt very, very welcome. They were all
such warm, lovely people, and it’s inspiring meeting people who help animals
out of the goodness of their hearts. Evelyn is actually a retired veterinarian
who helps support Sue with medical expertise and medications, which is just
awesome. The morning started with tea and cleaning, and then closer to lunch it
was time for “feeding”. I thought this would mean distributing pellets to the
kangaroos, but it meant hand feeding them milk from bottles. OH. MY. GOD. I
felt like I was literally in a dream. There’s something magical about staring
into a joey’s deep brown eyes as you feed it nourishing marsupial milk. Just
incredible. By then Sue had arrived, so I got to finally meet her in person,
and she is an awesome woman. I also got to meet Forrest, the little joey Sue
had taken in after he suffered severe burns to his feet and paws from a bush
fire, found scared and alone in a paddock. He was bandaged up by a veterinary
technician, sent to Kanyana, and then on to Sue’s. Sue has been nursing Forrest
back to health, with the help of Evelyn who comes every week to help change his
bandages. He’s receiving antibiotics, anti-inflammatory (metacam), and pain
relief (buprenorphine). I fell in love with him almost immediately. Just such a
little sweetheart, and so brave while we changed his bandages (though sedation
definitely helped). We were worried that some of his burns looked infected,
especially on one foot, and that a portion of his toe looked like it was coming
off. This might have happened when Forrest jumped into a fence before being
caught. I suggested we could try putting honey on Forrest’s wounds as honey has
osmotic and anti-bacterial properties, and Evelyn really liked that idea.
We had lunch with Forrest close by,
and decided we would see if we could take Forrest to a local veterinary
hospital so we could clean his wounds up better and deal with the toes. Sue,
Evelyn, and I packed Forrest up in the car and drove down to the vet’s office
(where Evelyn used to work). They were very gracious and let us have a table
and supplies to help Forrest. We sedated him and really cleaned up his wounds,
then applied honey to some bandages and wrapped them up in vet wrap. Forrest
had some extra sedation, so he was a little sleepy on the way home. We got back
after all the afternoon feeding was done, so it was just time for more tea and
conversation and then it was time for Kelly and I to head back. Definitely one
of my favourite Australian experiences.
When I got back that evening I
helped Steve with Molly the wallaby’s treatments, since his wife Sue was down
south helping out with the emergency animal response to the bush fires. Molly
gets eye drops twice per day, and a little bit of milk to convince her to hold
still. It was great cuddling with Molly and Dexter again, and I got to
officially meet Bonnie and Freddie the quendas. Such adorable little creatures.
Every animal at Kanyana has its own story. Molly and Dexter were kept by a lady
who didn’t feed them properly, and as a result Molly developed cataracts. Her
right eye has since been removed, and the left has very little vision (she can
probably just see shadows and shapes). Widjee the emu hatched from an egg at a
fair where the egg was being sold, and Henry the cockatoo was raised by humans
and is too imprinted to be released (plus he can’t fly). Steve and Sue tried to
release the quendas, but a local fox and cat were stalking them so they took
them back in. They had to move the other male out after Bonnie had babies
(Frankie has damage that renders him sterile so no worries with him!), one of
whom is still running around the enclosure (Steve has plans to catch this
little one and release it). Great way to
end an awesome day.
January
14th 2016
I got to sleep in Thursday morning
and then went in for the afternoon treatments. This time I got to help out more
in isolation with all the bobtails there, most of whom have the flu. Bobtails
are pretty cute, though you have to be careful not to get bit. We also gave
Pogo the 16yr old bearded dragon who lives at Kanyana (one of a few resident
reptiles) his medicine (metacam).
On the evening shift I basically got
to handle all the treatments on my own. I really liked the Thursday PM team,
especially Leanne the supervisor who I worked with a few times. On this shift I
also got to treat a little quenda with a spinal injury before he was taken by a
carer to a foster home.
January
15th 2016
Friday was a really proud day for
me. In the morning I handled all the treatments for the hospital and breezeway
areas, and gave Molly the wallaby her treatments all on my own. I also assessed
a little spotted turtle dove by myself. He had a large puncture wound on his
back, likely from a bird attack (maybe a raptor). I got quite attached to the
little guy as he felt like the first patient that was really mine. The afternoon
treatment person Evelyn helped me give him the rest of his medications and
treat his wounds. Essentially you want to give a bird like that fluids, heat, antibiotics,
anti-inflammatories/pain relief, and wound care. We called the vet who said
they could take him, so we packed him up and sent him out. Unfortunately the
little guy died on the way. :(
Evelyn and I worked well as a team
assessing a whole bunch of new admissions, treating Pogo, and then assessing
two birds almost ready for release. One was a duck with a broken wing that had
had a pin placed, which had previously come out and had to be replaced. The pin
looked great now and the duck looked quite good. The other was a kookaburra who
had been oiled, and who now looks much cleaner and is able to fly from branch
to branch. It takes a lot of effort to fully clean an oiled bird, and even a
small drop of oil can ruin their waterproofing, which can be devastating for
water birds.
January
16th – 17th 2016
Saturday I woke up bright and early
to catch the train to Hillarys Boat Harbour to catch the ferry to Rottnest
Island. I ended up having to grab a cab to make sure I was at the ferry office
early enough to check in. Part of my package was a bike rental, so I picked
that up and settled in for a nice 45 minute ferry to Rottnest Island. Rottnest
is a little tiny island just off the coast of Perth/Fremantle, and is a
popular tourist destination. I was told I have to go there to see the quokkas,
so go I went.
When I got there I wandered through
the open mall, where I met one very friendly quokka!! I was taking a selfie
with him in the background and he just cuddled up to me!!! I did not entice him
and did not feed him because that just encourages poor behaviour and
inappropriate diet. Then I hopped on my bike and started a trek around the
island. Well…I got about 5km down the winding road before the heat and lack of
water (stupid me) was killing me. I cut my losses and turned back to “The
Settlement” (basically a small cluster of rooms to stay in, tourist shops, and
staff quarters that make up the only populated part of the island, which is a
protected park). The views along the coast were beautiful, but I didn’t want to
die in the heat. I locked up the bike and bought a bus ticket instead. Much
better idea, and I even got a little nap. I got off at the west end, where I trekked
out to the viewing platform where it was rumoured you could see whales
breaching with their calves. Well, there were no whales, but there was a pod of
dolphins cruising the surf, so safe to say I wasn’t disappointed. I then headed
to the other viewing platform where I admired the colony of New Zealand fur
seals basking in the sun and playing around in the water. Such an awesome
experience getting to see these animals in their natural habitats!
I took the bus back to The
Settlement, stopping briefly in Geordie Bay. I then joined the free “Quokka Tour”,
which I had been looking forward to all day. A lovely older lady named Patsy
was our volunteer guide, and she did not disappoint, showing us all the spots
where quokkas like to hide from the hot afternoon sun (quokkas are nocturnal). Quokkas
are kind of what you would imagine a cross between a kangaroo and a rat would
look like, except waaaaaay cuter. They are famous for their “smiles”, which I
only recently learned. We saw plenty of quokkas, including some super cute
babies. Quokkas generally have just one offspring, but they mate again at a
certain point, and will bring the second joey to term if the first one dies (so
you might see one very small joey amongst a bunch of larger ones in a family
group). Their society is matriarchal. I took sooooo many photos of all the
quokkas, and gave in to the temptation to cuddle up to a friendly one (though
we still did not feed it!! Just gave it some drinking water which it really
appreciated). I spent the rest of my afternoon before my ferry back at the
beach (not a long stay but nice and relaxing). The old coral bottom made it
hard to get out in the water, but I persevered. It was hard to say goodbye to
such a beautiful little piece of paradise, but I enjoyed my time on Rottnest
immensely and it was an absolutely perfectly sunny day.
Sunday I didn’t do anything at all
so I won’t bore you with that. Until next time friends!
Congratulations on passing your exam!!!!
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