Each year Wildlife Victoria trains and welcomes hundreds of new volunteers from across the state of Victoria. Every volunteer brings a unique set of skills and experience but they all have one thing in common – their passion and commitment to helping protect native wildlife. This spring we shine a light on two of our fantastic volunteers – Meyvin and Sue – the amazing work they do for Wildlife Victoria and, most importantly, Victoria’s precious native animals.
Meyvin
Wildlife Victoria rescue and transport volunteer.
Meyvin joined Wildlife Victoria just five months ago but has already completed over 70 wildlife rescues and transports. She has always loved wildlife and decided to become a trained rescuer after calling the Wildlife Victoria Emergency Response Service to report an injured brushtail possum on her property.
After learning that wildlife rescuers are volunteers, Meyvin was inspired to complete the training and assist as much as she could. Meyvin's favourite native animal is the brushtail possum; “I have a soft spot for them because they are so often misunderstood and seen as a pest.”
Sue
Wildlife Victoria rescue volunteer, wildlife rehabilitator and trainer.
Sue has been a Wildlife Victoria volunteer for eight years but has been dedicated to helping animals long before that. As an avid animal lover, Sue has volunteered at shelters for cats and dogs as well as for native wildlife. After many years learning and gaining experience volunteering at shelters across Melbourne, Sue moved to beautiful Beechworth to set up her own shelter. She always wanted to help raise orphaned kangaroo joeys to get them back on their feet and ready for release. As well as caring for kangaroos, Sue looks after snakes, lizards, wombats, echidnas, birds and any other species that come into her shelter. She is also a Wildlife Victoria trainer, delivering the Wildlife Victoria Basic Rescue & Transport training to new volunteers across the state.
Sharing, learning & digging deep
Volunteering at Wildlife Victoria involves constant learning. Whether in field, or at advanced training courses, there is always information, tricks, and tips to learn and share.
Meyvin
During her training Meyvin was interested to learn that echidnas are really good at digging themselves deeper into the ground when they need to be rescued, making it trickier for rescuers to do their job. “I have yet to come across one, but I'm sure it'll be a challenge when the time comes!”
Sue
Sue has certainly experienced this firsthand. She was once called out to an echidna that had fallen down a mine shaft in regional Victoria. After driving as close as possible to the site and then trudging across paddocks in the summer heat with ladders and equipment, Sue found the poor echidna at the bottom of the mine shaft, roughly 3 metres down a vertical drop.
"Down I go into the mine shaft and, of course, there was no way this echidna was getting picked up. He just dug further and further down into the dirt. I didn't quite know what to do at this point, so I called Wildlife Victoria.” The Emergency Response Operator put Sue in touch with another volunteer who had ample experience dealing with tricky echidnas.
“I gave her a call and said, ‘I don't know what to do with this echidna!’ She said, 'He'll climb out'. I said ‘No, he can't, it's almost vertical!’ and she said, ‘You'll have to build him a ladder, but he’ll do it.’”
So, Sue built a ladder made of sticks and bark to give the echidna a way to climb out. In the meantime, she brought him a plate of delicious echidna food. Every day, Sue would drive out, walk to the mine shaft and bring fresh food for the hungry critter. Every day, the echidna was looking up at her from the bottom of the deep hole.
“I was thinking, I'm going to be delivering food to this echidna for the next 10 years!”
But on day seven, the echidna had managed to climb out and was gone.
“I would never have imagined that a little echidna would be able to climb out of a mine shaft, but he did! It just shows that sharing knowledge works.”
The ups and downs
As well as dealing with the occasional spiky monotreme, there are some emotional challenges that come with wildlife rescue. Last year Wildlife Victoria volunteers provided in field assistance to almost 90,000 animals across the state. That is a lot of rescuing, transporting, and caring for wildlife, and it’s also a lot of sick, injured or orphaned animals that needed our volunteers’ help.
Meyvin
The biggest challenge for Meyvin has been accepting that one person cannot help every single animal in need. “Sometimes, you also need to be able to look after yourself and put yourself first.”
But it's no surprise that the animals are the most rewarding part of volunteering with Wildlife Victoria. “Knowing that you are there for these animals, whether it be to get them out of trouble, transporting them to an experienced carer and giving them the time and place to heal, or to end their suffering in the most humane way possible. The most rewarding thing is knowing that you were there for them when they needed you.”
Sue
The ups and downs are also reflected in Sue’s experience. “Sometimes it feels like you're losing the battle.” However, she finds being there for wildlife and wildlife rehabilitation similarly rewarding. “Raising orphans, giving them a chance to survive and thrive, and then seeing them go back into the wild; it makes me happy. That's what we're meant to do, when I see a joey that has grown up and become independent, I think ‘that's a job well done.’”
Passing it along
It’s important to know that everyone can help wildlife. While being a Wildlife Victoria volunteer is an excellent way to help, not everyone can do it. But there are ways you can help, from changing your behaviour on the roads, to the way you think about wildlife, our volunteers share some final tips for everyone.
Meyvin
"Please try to use our roads safely for our precious wildlife. It is truly heartbreaking to attend to an animal that has been hit by a vehicle when the damage is so often extensive and devastating. I encourage drivers to slow down particularly at dusk and dawn, and especially on country roads, and to call us immediately should they have a collision with a native animal or if they come across one injured on the side of the road."
Sue
“These magnificent creatures roamed this land before all of us. People complain of kangaroo overpopulation, possums invading their roof spaces and ferocious magpies filling our skies! I wish the general public had more compassion for our animals, opened their hearts and minds, and looked for ways to live harmoniously alongside our wildlife.”
If you’re interested in joining our cohort of incredible volunteers like Meyvin and Sue, click here.