Latest / The Shed Organics Show / #22 - Protecting Our Wildlife Close To Home | Janelle [TasWild]

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#22 - Protecting Our Wildlife Close To Home | Janelle [TasWild] · The Shed Organics Show

0:00
Hey everybody, what is going on? Welcome back to another episode
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of The Shed Organic Show. Today on the show we have
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Janelle from Taz Wild. Now, Janelle is a prominent
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person in the wildlife rehabilitation space.
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She's doing incredible work and might I add, very difficult work
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to go and save some of our wildlife from the impact that us
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as humans have now. She mentions in this
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conversation about the road toll and how many of our wildlife are
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being impacted by roads and cars and people that just are coming
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through, carving lanes, through their habitat and ultimately
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injuring wildlife along the way. And she explains to us what you
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can do if you find an injured animal on the side of the road,
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the people to call, how you can also get involved if you want to
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do this as a job or to really dive in and get stuck in and
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help our wildlife not only in Tasmania, but all over Australia
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and all over the world. Now.
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She also explains what it's like as an emotional roller coaster
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doing this for a job, because I can't imagine what sort of
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situations she turns up to every week.
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But the strength of people like Janelle to go out and do this
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job has motivated me to really want to shine a light on them
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and to inspire more people to be able to do their part, even if
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it's just a little bit here. And then, as Janelle says in the
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conversation, just one animal over your lifetime that you can
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help can make an enormous difference.
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So if this is something that interests you, I'm sure you're
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going to find a lot of value from this conversation.
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So let's dive straight into it. Here is Janelle from Taz Wild.
2:09
So I grew up in West Australia and my mom volunteered at a
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wildlife sanctuary over there called Kenyana and she used to
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take me in. So she was a single mom and she
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would take me in to do the enclosure cleaning and the
2:24
feeding and honestly just like plop me in an enclosure with
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like blue tongue lizards or loracates and then we'd be like
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bringing home baby animals to feed them.
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So I grew up around animals like this is in my DNA, it is in my
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blood. But for me it was like coming to
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Tazzy. I there was a very distinctive
2:45
moment for me and that that really it flipped the switch and
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you know, coming down here and seeing the amount of roadkill
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that we have. So it is known as the roadkill
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capital of the world. Wow.
2:58
Yeah, I didn't know that. Yeah, it is.
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It is huge. I mean, the 5th, about 1/5 of
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Tasmania's state is World Heritage and bushland.
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So it, there's a huge percentage and a lot of the roads cut, you
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know, on the border of or right through the center of.
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But I was coming home from work one day and I remember seeing
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this little fluffy lump on the side of the road.
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And I was like, that didn't look right.
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Like I said, by then I was sort of used to seeing roadkill and
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it was having an impact on me. But there was this particular
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day and I was like that something about that just didn't
3:31
look right. I was like, I'm pretty sure I
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saw it move and I, I turned around and put up my car and I
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just see this little tiny pink nose in amongst this dark
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chocolate brown fur. And it was this baby brushed
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Opossum clung onto his dead mum. And it was just, Oh my God, I
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just, I, I started shaking. I was trembling.
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I was like, you know, what do I do at this point?
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I'd, I'd never actually rescued an animal.
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I'd grown up with orphans. I'd never done rescue and rehab,
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I guess myself. And I think, you know, obviously
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instinct for me kicked in and I was like, I need to get this
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baby safe and away from the road.
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And I remember prying her and she was just clinging onto her
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mum's fur and she was screaming. And it was just like the, that
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these animals go through it. Just that's it just flipped that
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switch for me. And I was like, I need, I need
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to change. I need to be a positive impact.
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I need to have an impact on these animals lives.
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There are so many of them. So that that for me started the
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journey into to the wild. Honestly, that's like, you've
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tugged at my heartstrings already.
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That's in. That's insane.
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But you're right though, that's that type of thing is so like
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misunderstood and also like the misunderstood in terms of the
4:56
impact that we're having. We just simply carve these roads
5:00
through natural habitats of all of these animals without even a
5:04
second thought. And we just think we need to get
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from A to B quicker or blah, blah, blah.
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And quite often you're not thinking about all of these
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little critters that are trying to cross the road with
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absolutely no Rd. sense. They don't know what a road is
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or what it's supposed to be. And they're having to try and
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live their lives around such a dangerous thing that's coming in
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from us. And you know, there is somewhat
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of a necessity for us to build roads in certain places.
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And you've got to you got to pick as as best you can.
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But then it's also good for us to know about the impact and
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then what we can do to help if there is a situation like that
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where you're facing something and going, Oh my goodness, you
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know, I've hit an animal or blah, blah, blah, etcetera.
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Up here in Queensland we tend to see a lot of Wallabies or
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Kangaroos and and possums a lot in terms of roadkill
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unfortunately. What are some of the common ones
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that you see down in Tassie and like you mentioned ring tail
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possum there? What are some of the common ones
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that you see that A need rescuing or B are just a common
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fatality unfortunately. I think it's about 70% of all
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our wildlife call outs are three species.
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So we've got the Paddy melons, which are like a small little
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rotund wallaby and you've got the Bennett's Wallabies, which
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you also have up on the mainland and you brushed up possums.
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So those three are definitely the most common that we have
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coming into care. For me, I, I care for anything
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basically that needs it. So some people like to
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specialize in certain avenues like we'll have wombat carers
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and and Raptor carers. We are very few and far between
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in wildlife rehabilitation, like in wildlife rehabilitators in
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the human, and so there's not many of us.
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So I just take in basically whatever needs a home.
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Yeah, wow. So do you take it into your
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house specifically? Because that must end up like a
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little bit of a a crazy house sometimes with all these
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beautiful animals around. Yeah, it's like a little creche,
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little baby animal creche. At the moment I have a baby
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ringtail possum in care and a bandicoot, a little Easton Bar
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bandicoot in my care. Oh my.
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Goodness. This season has been absolutely
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chaotic. I, I think there was one day I
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had 13 ducklings, 6 bandicoots. There was just so many animals.
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And it's just like, you know, you're up at sort of 4/30, 5:00
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in the morning to get all the feeds done and then sort of
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start work. And then, you know, some of
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these creatures that I was having so like little tiny pink
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bandicoots, completely furless. They're in, you know, they need
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constant temperature and humidity.
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You're feeding them every four hours around the clock.
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Wow, that's incredible. It's like, yeah, full time mum
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job that you're taking on for all these different species.
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How difficult is it to balance looking after different species
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at the same time and managing? Obviously these are wild
8:14
animals, so you're kind of taking them into somewhat of a,
8:17
you know, protected and unnatural cared environment for
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them. How do you try and make sure
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that they're stillwell adapted to go out into the wild again
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afterwards? That is a great question and
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it's something that is, it can be really detrimental to
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releasing a wild animal if they aren't wild.
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So we call it imprinting. So when you have too much of A
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close connection with these animals growing up, so all of
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them can imprint. Some, like bandicoots don't
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often imprint on people, but birds, especially things like
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your water birds, they, they are so intelligent and they will see
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you as mum even when they're released.
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And it's really hard to distinguish and to, to train
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them to be wild. But it's important that when
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they get to that age and development where they are
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already pretty independent, but still relying on food, that you
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do cut contact. You know, you, you literally go
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from with your marsupials, these little tiny things that are
9:19
velvety or just furring. And quite often when they're
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stressy and they're calling mum, like you become mum and you have
9:25
them in a pouch down your top so they can hear your heartbeat and
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they've got your body warmth. But then having that separation
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between them going from, OK, I'm mum.
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And now I need to teach you that I'm dangerous because although I
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won't be to you, there are other people and I don't want you
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going up to strangers and assuming that they're mum.
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And with a lot of carers who have domestic pets as well, it's
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having that, that real clear separation because we don't want
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them to have that, that minuscule moment where they go
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is that my friendly dog that I've grown up with, because that
9:58
will be life or death for them. So you really have to be able to
10:03
to separate those that domestic to the wild rehab process.
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Goodness me, that must be hard to juggle.
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And then are you keeping track of these guys once you go back?
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Is that even possible in some species?
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Do you do any sort of tagging, relocating, type research, or is
10:21
it simply just managing the influx of of wild animals that
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get injured and then just trying to rehabilitate them as much as
10:28
possible? Yeah, I mean, I, I keep track of
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the animals that I rehabilitate. We are permitted.
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So it's something that you have to apply for a wildlife permit
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through the governing body, which down here is NRA.
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It's a natural resource and environment.
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And so we log our returns every year of how many animals have
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come in. Obviously not all of them
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survive. And so they want those outcomes
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as well so we can collect data. As for the release, once the
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animals in my care have been released, I'm lucky enough that
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I'm back onto bushland here. So I can do what's called a soft
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release, where I'm literally opening up the enclosure door
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and I can provide supplementary food if they're needed.
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I can monitor their health. If they start to deteriorate, I
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can bring them back in and care for them and make sure that
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they're stronger. But As for tagging, we don't
11:15
have funding unfortunately, for that is expensive.
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I'd love to because that would provide all rehabbers with some
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sort of data. Yeah, Yeah.
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That's what I was thinking. It would kind of give you a
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little bit of a marker as to how successful maybe what you guys
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do is and then also highlight the importance of it because
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that's giving the government bodies some data and saying,
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hey, look, look how successful we are rehabilitating these
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animals. Maybe we could get some more
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funding and start to make this a bit more of a big thing.
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Can you talk to me about a little bit of a typical
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rehabilitation process for, let's just say, one of the most
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common, like the ring tail possums?
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So you've got one at the moment. Is it called squeak or squeak,
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something like that? Yeah, I saw.
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That's so cute. So can you tell me about like
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let's, let's use Squeak for as an example, what's, what was the
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rehabilitation process like so far and what's the plan and how
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does that differ to every other animal that comes in?
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So ringies aren't overly common. Your brushed up possums are
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very, very common, but the ring tails, not so much.
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They're a bit more. We have a tiered structured
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system here in Tassi. So you start from 1:00 and you
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got to five. So these guys, I think they sit
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at Tier 3 and so you only get to them once you have a bit more
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experience. For Squeak, I can't even recall
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how he came into care. They have so many through my.
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Care. But with ringings, it's really
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important that they actually have bodies.
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So they live in a clan and they'll have what's called a
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dray. So instead of a nesting box or a
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tree hollow, they actually build like this little orb.
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It's it's incredible. They have a prehensile tail, so
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they can actually take materials from trees and they carry it in
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their tail like a hand. And then they'll go and
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construct this little orb, and then they'll have a family of
13:14
ring tails that live in there together.
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That's gorgeous. Yeah.
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So with him, he came in very late in the season.
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I got him in at I think it was 75 grams.
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Oh my goodness. He fit in the palm of my hand
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and he had a vet visit he struggled for.
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I was going to say about two weeks was that sort of turning
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point? And so it was just constant care
13:38
around the clock, feeding through the night in monitoring
13:43
gut health, in monitoring their behavior, their demean of their
13:48
hydration, how much they're eating and drinking, and then
13:51
obviously growth and weights and things like that as well.
13:54
I did get him a body. So I called her bubble.
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So that would be Bubble and Squeak, but she didn't make it.
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She. Was kept by a member of public
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yeah and because they are quite a not not an advanced species,
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but they are quite difficult to care for.
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I think that potentially that initial care period, because she
14:18
was so tiny and vulnerable, it had a very detrimental impact to
14:23
her. So I couldn't, I couldn't turn
14:25
her around and I took her up to the vet.
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She had two vet visits and unfortunately she didn't make it
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so so. Sad.
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I I would buddy squeak if I could, but we're now late in the
14:36
season and there's no other ring.
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He's coming in so he is going to be solo, which is not ideal.
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It means that I have to keep him inside and warmer for longer
14:43
because he doesn't have the body heat from other ring tails.
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And so I've got to watch out for hypothermia.
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I've got to slowly integrate him into the wild.
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You've got to slowly integrate him with different leaf litter,
14:56
leaf matter and all sorts of stuff.
14:57
So it's a lengthy process. It sounds, and it sounds very
15:00
different based on the different species.
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So it means like you're having to really think about each
15:06
individual situation and kind of judge based on what you're
15:09
seeing. So it's not a kind of like, all
15:11
right, bring them in, give the, you know, fix up their broken
15:15
limb or whatever it might be, and then nurse them back and
15:18
sort of just flick them back out the door.
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It's it's a matter of going, OK, how do they best thrive in the
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environment? How close are they to that?
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What else? You know, what are the factors
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are we trying to juggle in here? Yeah.
15:31
There must be a very taxing job emotionally for you, I suppose,
15:39
like with anything that's really making a difference, especially
15:45
when you're facing, you know, animals that don't make it.
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You're, you're battling. On one hand, you have this
15:51
really amazing feeling of being able to rehabilitate an animal
15:55
and, and rescue them from one that won't have made it without
15:59
your influence to then having one that you have to put down
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and you can't save. What's that like for you?
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What's that kind of journey like emotionally?
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It is hard keeping it short and sweet.
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It is really hard and I always say that if you got to be a
16:21
particular kind of person to stay with wildlife rehab for a
16:25
long period of time because the amount of loss is heartbreaking.
16:31
And seeing them, you know, from that first little possum, little
16:35
brushy that I pulled off dead mum's back, I named her
16:37
Whiskers. She's she thrived and survived.
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And she is to date the biggest brushed Opossum I have ever
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seen. Huge.
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And for that, you know, that sort of keeps me going.
16:49
And it's those moments that a bird that you've rehabbed takes
16:52
flight, You know, the, the first little hops and, and steps from
16:57
a macropod, that's when your little possums start to climb
17:00
trees and they've got that really awkward, gangly, you
17:03
know, climbing, you know, movement that keeps me going
17:08
because it's the, the losses are really, really difficult.
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I also partake in and, and help out with euthanasia call outs,
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which are really confronting and traumatic.
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And you know, the thing for me in that process and what I, I
17:28
basically, I've come up with some rituals.
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And the first one is to allow myself to grieve because you
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can't, you can't squash that. You can't drown that out.
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You can't fade that. It, it still stays with you.
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It is raw, it is hurtful. But for the ones that I don't
17:44
raise to rehab, the ones that dying care, the ones that I
17:47
can't save. And you know, it's, it's
17:50
understanding that you can't save them all.
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And then it's making sure that they don't die in vain.
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So it's I I plant all the ones under a tree on my property.
18:02
That's gorgeous. Their, their body decomposes, it
18:05
feeds the plant, and then that plant then provides food for
18:08
wildlife. So it's that, you know, that
18:11
circle of life that that's been important to me is basically to
18:16
give it a life beyond its physical form.
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That's so beautiful, Janelle. I think that it's a, it's a big
18:23
reason why we need to shine more light on people like you and,
18:26
and that work that you're doing, because it's so easy for us in
18:31
our fast-paced lives to kind of like, you know, turn a blind eye
18:36
to it almost. And, and just kind of go like,
18:38
oh, that's so horrible. But you know, I don't have to
18:41
deal with it or, you know, whatever it might be.
18:44
And there's people out you out there like you who are working
18:48
hard to kind of really fix this and raise awareness.
18:52
So I think that's a a big part of why, you know, I really
18:54
wanted to talk to you and, and chat about these things and
18:59
going along and you're doing that kind of work and you're
19:02
kind of facing all of this loss. And it obviously motivates you
19:07
to spread the awareness and to kind of help more people
19:11
understand what they can do too. And to prevent this kind of
19:16
thing. Are you, do you have like any
19:21
kind of top tips for people to be on the lookout to see if they
19:26
could either do some rescue themselves?
19:29
And what I'm thinking primarily with this question is that quite
19:33
a big thing that we, I see spoken about is if if you see a
19:36
dead wallaby or one that's been hit by a car or something, they
19:39
always tell you to go and check the pouch or go and see if
19:43
there's a, a baby in there. Because you never know that
19:45
there could be a little one that's suffering in there.
19:50
Is there anything else like that that that people should be aware
19:53
of trying to do their part in? Absolutely.
19:58
That's that's almost a never ending question to answer.
20:00
But this thing when, for instance, with a muscle appeal
20:04
when you are checking a pouch, is never ever pull that animal
20:08
off its mother's teat. Yeah, wow.
20:10
OK. Cause.
20:11
Detrimental impact and injury to the inside of their mouth so
20:14
they actually latch onto that tee and if you're pulling that
20:17
animal off it, you can tear all of their upper jaw.
20:20
Oh, not not sorry, not the jaw, but the skin that's like their
20:23
palate. And they quite often they won't
20:27
be able to feed because it causes them so much pain to have
20:29
them, you know, warm fluids in their mouth.
20:31
And it is absolutely detrimental to their survival that you just,
20:36
if you see something and you look in the pouch and you go,
20:38
hey, there's a baby in there. You scoop mom up.
20:40
You leave Bob nice and warm and safe and sound in mom's pouch.
20:44
And you get that animal to either a local vet or a wildlife
20:48
carer or a wildlife sanctuary. But it's also about OK if you
20:53
see something that's hit an animal marsupial baby can
20:58
survive for up to five days alive in their dead mother's
21:01
pouch. Goodness me.
21:03
Yeah, that's a huge. One as well, a lot of people
21:05
don't realize how long these animals can survive obviously
21:08
deteriorating, but you know, pulling animals off the road.
21:12
So then things like you're scavenging creatures for us down
21:15
here. You got your Tassie devils, you
21:19
got your quolls, you've also got Raptors, Ravens.
21:22
If you pull an animal off the road well into the Bush, it it
21:25
stops that secondary impact. Like the amount of animals that
21:28
I have seen where you've got a a wallaby and then you've got like
21:31
a spotted tower quall dead because it's also been here.
21:35
I actually rescued a spotted tower quall the other day.
21:37
Oh awesome. Successful rescue Successful in
21:42
the. Fact that I got out of the quail
21:43
enclosure it had gotten itself into.
21:47
Yeah. They are such incredible.
21:49
They are my favorite terrestrial animal.
21:51
Like, I've been obsessed with them since I've been a kid.
21:54
And a lot of people don't even know what they look like.
21:56
So tiger Quall. So not your Eastern Qualls,
21:59
which are very small, but people call them tiger Qualls.
22:02
So they they are huge. Wow.
22:04
OK. Yeah, he'd gotten into.
22:06
This quail enclosure, it was just in about 15 minutes from
22:10
where I lived and I was like, absolutely, I'm going to go.
22:12
Never done a quall rescue. A spotted tower quall.
22:16
Beautiful big male, I think. I didn't.
22:20
I didn't ask. But yeah, he'd gotten in.
22:24
He'd unfortunately had a very delicious breakfast for the lady
22:28
who called him through. It took me half an hour to get
22:31
him out of this enclosure. Only because.
22:34
He was like all take looking up at me and they have an
22:36
incredible crush strength with their with their jaw.
22:41
So yeah, I didn't want digits inside his mouth.
22:44
No way. But then yeah.
22:46
So I ended up containing him and dropping him off with another
22:49
rescuer who took him out to Bonnarong, which is our wildlife
22:52
hospital and sanctuary. And I just followed up this
22:55
morning to see how he was doing, which I don't normally do
22:58
because I get inundated with calls.
23:01
And unfortunately, he had to be put to sleep.
23:04
Now these guys are endangered. But he was.
23:08
Old. He was very, very old, which
23:10
might have been the reason he went in for an easy dinner.
23:13
So successful in the sense that he was also in a lot of pain.
23:17
He had an old skull fracture. He had bone disease.
23:21
I think they said he had cancer as well.
23:23
So we helped in a sense that he wasn't prolonged with that
23:27
suffering, which a lot of them, even euthanasia call outs,
23:30
that's what that's about and that's what you have to remember
23:33
is that we are taking on that pain so they don't have to
23:36
suffer anymore. That's such an important.
23:37
Point because it is like it is the nice thing to do.
23:40
So many people like get stuck with this with any with their
23:42
own pets and everything where it's like they just want to they
23:45
just want to hold on that little bit longer and have these guys a
23:48
little bit longer in their life. But, you know, it's that tough
23:51
decision where you kind of just go like, look, this is actually
23:54
the kind thing to do is to, to really help them with their
23:57
pain. One thing you said there kind of
24:01
gave me another thought about, you know, if we're passing by
24:05
any animals that have been hit or injured or anything like
24:08
this. And, and that's the the stress
24:12
that they're under when they're seeing a human and they don't
24:16
understand that that humans trying to help.
24:19
And they can be aggressive or they can be in this like really
24:22
panicky mode. For instance, story that I have
24:26
shared previously is that I was just off on a little bushwalk
24:31
and I saw this very, very injured lorikeet that was not
24:37
doing very well. He'd obviously had a lot of his
24:38
feathers packed out and all of this type of thing.
24:41
So poor guy was, was suffering. And I was trying to, you know,
24:47
get him so that because he was he would climb up the tree and
24:50
then was so wobbly that he kept falling off his perch.
24:54
And I was trying to be as calm as possible to try and collect
24:58
this little guy to go and look after him.
25:00
But every time I'd go near, he would freak out and and I was
25:03
scared that he was going to injure himself again.
25:06
Luckily, what I managed to do actually was kind of just gently
25:10
throw a towel over him and that kind of cushioned it so that I
25:14
could pick him up. But it really made me think, you
25:18
know, rescuing a certainly something like you just said,
25:21
where these teeth are coming at you.
25:25
It's kind of like, how do you how do you try and convince the
25:27
animal that you're trying to help them?
25:31
Yeah, it's. It's a you can't with a wild
25:34
animal. Like I've seen, I've, I've
25:36
attended some horrific rescues and like, you know, you've got
25:41
Wallabies that have, they're back and both back legs broken
25:45
and they're still trying to claw themselves away from you.
25:47
You've got eyes hanging out of their heads and they're still
25:50
trying to climb up a tree. Like it is horrific.
25:52
You can't. So for me, it's that I stand
25:56
back from the situation and assess from a distance.
26:00
And that's really important because then you, you might see
26:03
that and go, OK, this animal's got a broken back.
26:06
It can't, it can't hop away from me.
26:08
But if you're standing back, you can assess that you can calm
26:11
your nervous system down too, because I still get nervous
26:14
every single rescue I go to. I've got that sort of fight or
26:17
flight, that adrenaline. So if you can take a minute or
26:20
two just to calm your nervous system down, the animal's going
26:23
to pick up on that as well. So if you're calm and going into
26:25
the situation like you've just said, then you can go, OK, what
26:28
do I need to do here? What's the best way that I can
26:30
do this as quickly as possible and as swiftly as possible?
26:35
So not, you know, dropping stuff and and making loud noises.
26:39
And it's really about being swift, precise, calm and moving
26:43
with intent. Yeah, that's.
26:45
Right. And are you on your own a lot of
26:47
the time or do you have help? No, just you.
26:51
Wow, wow, wow. And have you had any dangerous
26:54
encounters where you've kind of had any dangerous animals to
26:58
rescue or you know any, any time where you're trying to avoid
27:03
yourself getting hurt or anything like that?
27:06
Look all. Roadside rescues are dangerous
27:08
because, like, quite often you're on the side of a highway.
27:11
I went to pull an echidna, like a live echidna off a very, very
27:15
busy highway. And I went to pick him up and
27:18
the truck saw me and it didn't even slow down.
27:21
Wow. And I was just like, you know,
27:23
that that's obviously dangerous. I've gone to rescue a platypus
27:29
which had like AI don't even know what it was a string or
27:32
fishing line or something around like it's throat dangerous
27:36
because they're venomous. Obviously I've had big Wallabies
27:41
that can still like fight and kick and possums that can bite
27:46
like it it the koal the other day with, you know, very strong
27:50
crush capacity. They've all got they've all got
27:53
their things that you have to be aware of.
27:55
So it's like educating yourself on the process and we are super
28:00
lucky that you know, Bonnarong are amazing and they if you've
28:04
never attended a rescue of a specific animal like I with the
28:08
quo for me the other day, they're like just give us a call
28:11
when you get there, let us know the situation, send us photos
28:14
and videos and we'll talk you through what you need to do
28:16
Awesome. Yeah.
28:18
And so it's like. They, they want you to obviously
28:19
be safe and they want the animal to be as less stressed as
28:22
possible. So having that experience on the
28:25
other end of the phone and and that would be the same for
28:28
people like just day-to-day members of public.
28:31
Like if you know someone who's a rescuer, call them up and be
28:34
like, Hey, I've just found this wallaby, what do I do?
28:36
Yes. Yeah, exactly right.
28:38
And help, having those people that you can sort of trust and
28:41
call and they want to help as well.
28:43
They're trying to do the right thing, which is really
28:45
wonderful. So in terms of like we spoke
28:49
about roadkill and how the roads and the road toll is probably
28:55
one of the the most prevalent for you in terms of rescues.
29:00
Are there any other situations where we have an impact as human
29:03
beings or even I guess things like our our climates?
29:09
I'm thinking even things like where ecosystems are being
29:12
damaged from pesticide sprays and uses and chemicals and all
29:17
of these types of things, what what are some other ones that
29:19
you're seeing that are having an impact on animals and, and
29:22
needing rescue The. Biggest ones that we are seeing
29:28
as a collective statewide is so Rd. trauma is probably the
29:33
biggest and then you've got domestic pets.
29:36
Yeah, wow. OK.
29:37
Yeah, so. Dog attack and cat attack and
29:40
toxoplasmosis. So disease.
29:42
So they play. I'm going to take a stab at
29:46
probably 80 to 90% of the call outs that we get.
29:49
Really. Oh my.
29:50
Goodness and. That's obviously.
29:53
Just, you know, they've wandered into someone's yard or something
29:56
where a domestic dog is or someone's, you know, got them
30:00
off leash at the park or whatever it might be.
30:02
And plenty of these dogs that's very much in their nature to go
30:06
and want to chase these things and, and do that kind of thing.
30:09
I mean, we have a, a pure black German shepherd that looks like
30:14
a wolf and he has a very strong prey drive.
30:19
But we have to be so vigilant that no birds are to be chased.
30:24
He can chase his toys as much as he likes, but not any of the
30:29
birds. And like we have chickens and
30:31
ducks and having them all roam around together from an early
30:33
age was pivotal in that. And trying to, you know, if
30:36
there's birds coming in, it's sort of really strictly teaching
30:39
them. So I, I can imagine that with a
30:42
dog or, or a cat that has this instinctual prey Dr. and you're
30:46
not watching, they could very easily go and do some damage.
30:51
So is there anything apart from training, I'm not sure how well
30:54
you can train a domesticated cat because they're pretty
30:56
instinctual. But apart from sort of training
30:59
your animals and these types of things, what are some other
31:01
things that people can do to kind of prevent this or to,
31:06
yeah, try and do their part as much as possible from home, not
31:09
only in pets, but but other things as well you mentioned.
31:13
Well, keeping your cats inside it is such, it is such a big
31:17
thing. It's like I have witnessed way
31:21
too many infections from cat bite.
31:24
And The thing is with the shape of the cat tooth, once that goes
31:27
in, quite often that wound is so small.
31:30
And when you're looking at an animal that has really thick
31:33
fur, quite often they, the actual puncture marks are
31:37
missed. And So what happens is that
31:39
tooth goes in, comes back out and all that bacteria stays
31:42
under the skin and that animal. It is so important that anything
31:46
that comes in via a cat bite goes straight to the vet because
31:49
it will need antibiotics. The biggest thing for us is like
31:53
keeping cats keeping, especially keeping cats inside.
31:57
But it's also stuff like baits. So a lot of people want to bait
32:00
and get rid of mice and rats, and secondary poisoning is huge
32:07
for our Raptors and owls. So you can actually buy wildlife
32:11
safe baits. Interesting.
32:15
Yeah, so. I've at at home here before.
32:18
I've used it's Bayer, Bayer, and there's another one, I can't
32:23
remember what it's called, but they don't have or they minimize
32:27
secondary poisoning. So anything like an owl that
32:30
picks up a dead rat that's eaten this stuff is less likely to
32:34
have that influence, that effect from that that poison.
32:38
That's such a really. Interesting point because I
32:41
personally wouldn't have thought about that.
32:43
And you know, you, you obviously want to control certain things
32:47
with, with rodents. If you've got a rodent problem,
32:49
you want to do something about it, but you're not thinking
32:51
about how that then impacts the other wildlife outside of that
32:56
and so. You know, they're always like
32:59
they're ingesting rats and and mice and they get that secondary
33:03
poisoning as well. And they are a vital part of our
33:05
ecosystem. A lot of people don't like
33:06
snakes because they're scared of them, but but they they.
33:09
Play a role. They play a role.
33:12
Yeah, that's so important. OK, that's really interesting.
33:15
Have you like done any roles with doing any education for
33:21
people or the organization you work for, anything like that?
33:24
Are they offering, is there any resources as kind of what I'm
33:28
thinking of how people can go and learn more about these types
33:31
of things or like websites to go to or workshops where they can
33:35
come along and be involved in, in helping you and volunteering
33:39
for the day? I presume that people, they're
33:41
always asking for more people to go and rescue.
33:44
Yeah. If you even if you think that
33:47
you can put the time in to save one animal's life in your entire
33:53
lifetime, if you can have impact on one animal, that is one
33:57
animal that would likely have died.
33:59
So if you want to get involved in wildlife rehab, like if
34:01
you're in Tassie, we do the the wires force online and then you
34:05
see the practical face to face training day, which the
34:08
not-for-profit that I work for actually runs them.
34:11
So it's called Wildlife Network Tasmania.
34:14
And we do that face to face training day after you've done
34:17
the online module. If you don't think that you've
34:19
got the time or the ability or the space to do wildlife rehab,
34:23
wildlife rescue is the best place to start.
34:25
So Bonnarong do that as a face, sorry, as a virtual.
34:30
And again, that's basically being an animal taxi, an animal
34:34
Uber. And that is such a vital thing,
34:38
especially when you've got, you know, like I had 1520 animals in
34:42
care. I can't go and drive an hour or
34:45
an hour and a half to go and pick up an animal.
34:47
So the little bandicoot that came in a couple of days ago, it
34:50
was an hour and 10 minutes away. I, it comes out on the rescue
34:54
app. I accepted care and another
34:58
rescuer who doesn't have time to be a carer, she accepted.
35:02
She picked up that little baby bandicoot and she drove it all
35:04
the way out to me. And it's like, that is such an
35:07
amazing way to get involved and to help these little creatures
35:10
get to vets and to carers and get them the help that they need
35:14
as soon as possible. That's really, really.
35:16
Cool. And I presume like anyone could
35:18
really do that if you find an animal on the side of the road.
35:22
So is that something or like an injured animal at all?
35:24
Like often like my first thought might be to go to a vet or
35:29
something like that. Is that, is that probably the
35:31
primary place or the better things or what?
35:35
What sort of places are we trying to alert?
35:40
Yeah, I mean. For your wildlife, if you can
35:42
take it to a wildlife sanctuary, they would usually, so a place
35:46
like Bonnarong, they have a wildlife hospital, so they only
35:49
do wildlife care. They don't specialize in cats
35:52
and dogs and horses and anything else like that.
35:54
So they are going to be the most up to speed place to be able to
35:59
assess this animal because they do it on a day-to-day.
36:02
Whereas if you can get to a cat clinic or a dog clinic, they
36:05
that animal might sit there in a very stressful environment
36:08
because now it's around smells that it doesn't want or like
36:11
it's, you know, it's smelling predators next to it.
36:15
And quite often those vets aren't trained in wildlife.
36:18
So if you can get it to a wildlife rehabber as well.
36:23
So a lot of rehabbers like myself, we have very basic
36:26
triage and very basic veterinary skills.
36:28
A lot of them are also euthanasia trained as well.
36:33
Obviously, don't just rock up to your wildlife rehabber's
36:35
doorstep. You know, if you know someone,
36:37
call them first because we do get that a lot.
36:39
You just get people knocking on your door being like, I've been
36:41
here before and you're like, uh huh.
36:45
Yeah, totally. Because that like, like you say,
36:47
the, the, the everyday vet is just used to treating a dog or a
36:52
cat and they might possibly make a decision based on their lack
36:57
of experience rather than knowing exactly what to do and
37:00
how possible a rehabilitation is.
37:02
So I, I think that's a really handy one to know is to kind of
37:05
go, OK, I can call up a wildlife rescue or a rehabilitation
37:09
centre and they'll have a much better understanding of how
37:12
possible this is to, to do. So that's really, really cool.
37:17
And how long have you worked in rehabilitation and and working
37:23
with these guys? Well, I.
37:25
Think since I was basically in utero, right?
37:30
So in. Tassie I So that little possum,
37:33
that little brush tail whiskers that I picked up off the side of
37:35
the road. I wasn't a registered rehab
37:38
event. I spoke to a friend of mine who
37:41
was a carer at the time and she like raced around to mine and
37:45
she assessed the Joey and she gave me all of the supplies that
37:48
I needed and she guided me on a day-to-day basis and checked in
37:51
and she was absolutely amazing. But that really was that pivotal
37:56
point for me. So I went, I was like, OK, how
37:58
do I do this? How do I get involved?
38:00
How do I do more? I just, it just pulled up my
38:03
heartstrings so much. I was like, I need to do this.
38:05
This is where this is where my drive is right?
38:09
So I I think it was like a three day course back when I did it
38:13
and that was 11 to 12 years ago. OK.
38:18
OK. Is it the same now like a three
38:20
day course, something like that? No.
38:22
Comprehensive A yeah, it's just an online component that you can
38:27
do at your own pace, you know, and then once that's done wise,
38:32
we'll book you into the face to face training that we run
38:35
through wildlife network tasks. And so that's just a single day.
38:38
It's a long day, it's about 7 to 8 hours, but it's very hands on,
38:43
it's practical, it's understanding the setup
38:46
requirements, the feed requirements.
38:48
And then it's also connecting with what we call a mentor.
38:51
So someone like my friend, that day that you can converse with,
38:56
you can be like, hey, this is happening.
38:57
I don't know what to do. And then they with their
38:59
experience can guide you through the process and quite often
39:03
visit and you know, and help educate you.
39:06
And unfortunately we're losing a lot of that.
39:09
So because we have this aging population and we have really
39:12
experienced carers that are much older, they're retiring and
39:16
they're taking their knowledge with them.
39:18
And so, you know, we really need to help spread that knowledge
39:20
and, and, and get more rehab as get more carers in the system,
39:24
learning from these experienced rehab as to then pass on that
39:27
knowledge to to our future generations and our future
39:29
superheroes. Yeah, I.
39:31
Love how you put that. That's really, that's really
39:33
cool. You're right though, because
39:36
like I certainly want to encourage more young people to
39:40
be, you know, taking up conservation and, and just
39:45
general thoughtfulness about our environment, ecosystems and
39:49
things like this is like, I know this is probably like up here in
39:55
Queensland, we, I've noticed a lot of volunteer workers in this
40:00
space. Is it primarily a volunteer
40:04
thing or is this obviously, you know, everyone has to earn a
40:07
living and if you want to turn this into a job and something
40:10
that you can do. Like, is there room for careers
40:15
and enough funding for people to go in and actually make this
40:19
something that they can both support their family and earn a
40:22
living off, but also come and help out in our environment?
40:27
How viable is that for someone as a career in that kind of
40:31
thing? The thing is.
40:33
With the wildlife sector, there are so many ways that you can
40:36
help without actually having animals in your care.
40:40
You know you can plant out your gardens with native species.
40:43
You can leave water dishes with little rocks and stuff in them
40:46
so animals have somewhere to drink during the heat of the
40:49
summer. You can provide nesting boxes.
40:52
You know there. There is so much that people can
40:54
do. You can, if you have a Bush
40:56
block, for example, you can register your land with a local
40:59
rescue group and they and, and have releases on your property
41:02
like that is that is huge. And we are lacking that in
41:05
Tassie. And that's something that I'm
41:07
hopefully working on with the not-for-profit that I work with
41:11
is having this Land Registry that, you know, carers that are
41:15
in suburbia, for instance, and they might work part time or be
41:18
at uni and they're taking on one or two animals, but they don't
41:21
have acreage. And so connecting them with
41:24
people who have land and they're like, yeah, go and pop some, you
41:27
know, little enclosures up or some nesting boxes.
41:29
Go and dump your animals at my place.
41:31
You know, that that is a really viable, really essential part of
41:35
what we need. But As for funding, there's lots
41:39
of grants. There's wise have grants.
41:43
What are the other ones? There's there's several
41:45
different organizations that provide some sort of money.
41:51
I've currently got a, a food grant from wires.
41:55
So we then register with a company called new Craft and any
41:58
food products like formulas, insectivores, hand rearing
42:02
mixes, it's all we get like AI think it was about 700 bucks for
42:07
the year, which it's huge. It helps.
42:11
And so that then obviously we don't have to have that out of
42:14
pocket because it is volunteer that.
42:18
That's what started my journey with Ted's Wild was I'm working
42:22
part time. I was working for Parks and
42:24
Wildlife and I was trying to rehab animals because that's
42:28
really where my heart was. And I was getting to that point
42:31
where I was trying to pick up more shifts, but then I wanted
42:33
to take more animals because that's, you know, where my drive
42:35
is. And I was like, I need to move
42:38
away from working for somebody else so I can put my heart and
42:41
soul into what I believe and what I love.
42:44
So I made a coloring book. So back in 2016, that was my
42:47
first product. It took two years for me to draw
42:49
it and then digitalize it to have it published and printed.
42:53
And it just, it went from there. I was like, OK, what else can I
42:56
make? Like, I'm not the kind of person
42:59
I hate asking for donations. Like I would, I'd not not say
43:02
someone like give me money. I was like, OK, what can I do?
43:05
What can I make that people would want to buy that would
43:08
help me with my wildlife rehab? And so that's where Ties Wild
43:12
was born. That's beautiful.
43:14
That's really entrepreneurial as, as you say, like, because,
43:18
well, my thinking goes straight to like, you know, we want more
43:22
people doing this, right? And a lot of what's stopping
43:26
people is a general cost of living.
43:29
And like you were saying, that balance between, hey, like this
43:31
is something I'm really passionate about and I'm being
43:33
drawn to. And, and often, as is in your
43:37
case, you're very good at it and you're very willing to go out
43:40
and spend a lot of time and effort on it.
43:43
So it makes sense to me that government funding should be put
43:48
towards paying people to incentivize them to come and do
43:53
this kind of job where you're not having to go hang on.
43:55
How, how do I, you know, get some more funds for these guys?
43:59
I'm going to have to try and invent this or bring out this,
44:02
which I'm going to put the colouring book down in the link.
44:05
So if you can send me that link, I'll make sure I link it for
44:07
everybody because that would be really cool.
44:08
And anything else that we can support you with.
44:10
But the yeah, it just makes me think like, obviously it is a
44:15
lot of volunteers, and that's such a wonderful thing.
44:19
And as you say, so many people can do such small little things
44:22
at home to kind of really help the whole situation at large.
44:26
But I'm just thinking, you know, people like yourself need to be
44:31
able to be looked after so that they're not worrying about how
44:33
do I keep food on the table for my family?
44:36
And also I've got to buy feed for these animals.
44:39
I've I'm up at all hours of the night feeding them and all of
44:42
this kind of thing. It takes a special kind of
44:45
person to do that off their own back, doesn't it?
44:48
It certainly. Does and it, you know, and
44:50
that's why I said it's not for everybody.
44:51
You do have to be a a special breeder, crazy I call it.
44:56
But yeah, I mean, any, anyone can do it.
45:02
Actually, Victoria just passed. I think they've just passed that
45:05
with your registration. There's gonna be a certain
45:09
percentage of every vehicle registration is going to go into
45:12
wildlife rehabilitation. Beautiful.
45:14
I don't know if they were. Petitioning for it and if it got
45:17
passed or not. But but what an amazing idea
45:20
considering that most of the wildlife that comes into care is
45:24
through Rd. accident, at least having a very small percentage,
45:28
even if it is a couple of bucks or Rd. tolls, anything like that
45:31
going into that rehabilitation sector, you know, it's all going
45:35
to help. For me personally, that is a
45:37
Band-Aid measure. We actually need to be in the
45:40
forefront. We need to be in front of this.
45:42
So when we're building new roads, we need to be going, OK,
45:46
where are wildlife corridors? And I think it's NSW that do
45:50
this really well. And they'll have big like rope
45:53
bridges over highways and they'll have tunnels under the
45:56
highways. And so these animals can still
45:59
use and go from corridor through the corridor without having to
46:03
cross the road. It's like.
46:04
And that's what we need. We need that worldwide.
46:07
Yeah. You're.
46:07
Absolutely right. I've seen that happen.
46:09
I can't remember the country over in Europe where they've got
46:12
these essentially just like nature bridges where it's a
46:15
bridge that has, it's full of bushes and trees and everything
46:18
and it's designed for the animals to crossover, which is,
46:21
it's a much, yeah. It's a much more integrated kind
46:24
of approach. And in Queensland we see plenty
46:27
of these possum bridges that go across.
46:30
There's actually quite a few, which is really heartwarming to
46:33
see. And having these, yeah, the
46:35
passes where they can go through.
46:36
So having that thoughtfulness is something that you can really do
46:40
in terms of from a top down approach, but it doesn't, it
46:46
doesn't seem like a top priority still in terms of where the
46:49
funding is going. And I guess more awareness
46:54
creates more people talking about it, a bigger demand and
46:58
then we have more pressure on those people that can make those
47:00
decisions for us, Right, Yeah. And.
47:04
Just just spreading the word. The thing is, the more people
47:06
that are talking about it like you're saying it is, it's the
47:09
the more awareness, it's that compassion.
47:12
And a big one is raising future generations to be our next
47:18
superheroes. You know, it's teaching them
47:21
compassion. It's teaching them to care.
47:23
It's teaching them to think about something other than
47:26
themselves. It's about being one with
47:30
nature, not separate from. I love that.
47:34
That's that's exactly right. And bringing like yourself,
47:39
maybe how you were brought up in just being plunked in a cage
47:43
with lizards and all sorts like that obviously has an impact,
47:47
right? It kind of it brings you into
47:50
this kind of cycle with nature where you're appreciating the
47:53
small things you're noticing. You're able to to read what's
47:58
going on in each situation. And I think that's really,
48:01
really vital. Look, one thing I want to touch
48:05
on before we sort of wrap up is have you done any of this work
48:11
in anywhere other than Tasmania? And how do you find like, if so,
48:18
or even just from knowing about it, how does Tasmanian wildlife
48:24
differ to the rest of the country?
48:27
And I know there's plenty of that endangered species down
48:30
there and it's a very different climate to the rest of the
48:34
country. So what are the differences and
48:37
how can we best look after our Tassi wildlife as opposed to
48:41
maybe general mainland wildlife we see over over here and up in
48:46
QLD? Well, it's different because we
48:51
don't have, other than introduced species, we don't
48:54
have a lot of predators for our native wildlife.
48:58
So we don't have foxes, for example, which are huge
49:03
predators on mainland wildlife. It's a hard, it's a hard
49:11
question because I think that we need to take care of all of the
49:16
animals like Australia wide. I I'm looking at expanding my
49:20
business up onto the mainland to have impact up there as well and
49:24
to help spread awareness And I don't know just get get the
49:29
message across. But yeah, I think that it's not
49:32
just that segregation of Tassie versus Australia, it's, I say
49:37
Australia like we're not part of it.
49:41
When it's. Funny as well, like growing up
49:44
in in West Australia and it's like that split between West and
49:47
east and then it's like being in Tassie.
49:48
We're a completely different country, apparently.
49:50
Down here it's almost like that. Though the climates are so
49:54
different across such vast, you know, spaces of land and even
49:58
just like the, the, the great distance between where I am and
50:02
where I where you are and Tassie and Brizzy are so, so crazy
50:06
differences in ecosystems. I guess, like for me, Tasmania
50:11
just evokes and the times that I've been there just evokes this
50:14
really wild feel like it feels very much more natural.
50:19
I'm originally from New Zealand as well, and New Zealand
50:22
wildlife and New Zealand as a whole is still quite wild in
50:27
most of the parts of of the country.
50:29
And that I really like. And I think that's a big
50:34
difference between maybe Tasmania and some of the other
50:37
capital cities that we see is that focus maybe more so on the
50:43
fact that it is wild and you are up against more wild animals
50:47
more often in our suburban areas around in Brisbane, we're not
50:53
seeing all of these beautifully interesting wild animals that
50:57
come through all the time. You're not having Kangaroos that
51:00
crossing the road regularly. So then when you're going
51:03
further out into the bushland and things like this, that's
51:07
when we're exposed to it. We're not exposed to it in our
51:10
neighborhoods. We're not seeing all of this
51:13
roadkill as much because there's not as much wildlife around
51:17
because we've kind of taken over a bit.
51:18
So I see that difference in terms of being able to educate
51:23
some of the people that are in these more built up areas where
51:27
we can then understand, OK, just because we don't see it all that
51:31
often doesn't mean that it doesn't happen and doesn't mean
51:34
that we can't do something to help.
51:37
Absolutely. I guess I don't really think of
51:39
it like that because I am so disconnected from the city.
51:43
I'm not a city girl. I'm a country girl at heart and
51:46
in soul, and it's like that. Being in suburbia for me feels
51:51
so foreign. Like even going to Hobart, you
51:54
drive 10 minutes out of the city and you're in Bush.
51:58
So it is like you're saying it is much you can have this sense
52:02
of this wild state. And you know, that's one of the
52:05
big reasons that I was drawn to Tassie is it's it's beautiful,
52:09
It's wild. It's there's so much forest and
52:11
bushland and as obviously the ocean and rivers and waterways
52:16
and it's being in touch with nature, it is slowing down.
52:20
It is, I guess it the biggest part and play for me is stepping
52:27
back and taking in and being curious about what is around
52:32
you. And if if I could give advice to
52:36
people who wanted to connect with nature.
52:38
It's like if you're in suburbia and you don't have that ability
52:41
to, you can't go out into the Bush.
52:43
Even just laying on the grass in a local park, watching the
52:46
birds, the ants, looking up the clouds, like just slowing down
52:51
and and taking it in and being aware and and living with
52:55
purpose and with care. That's beautiful.
52:58
That's exactly right. You're you're spot on there.
53:01
Now let's tell everybody where they can find you and the
53:06
organizations in which you work for or recommend in terms of
53:12
this space. So if they're listening to this
53:14
and going, I want to follow Janelle's journey a little bit
53:17
more and I also want to do something to help.
53:20
We did speak about quite a few things that people can do
53:23
themselves already, but if you had to summarize it into sort of
53:26
a few places where they can go, where are some places we can
53:30
point people if. You want to follow along with my
53:34
journey. Instagram is the main platform
53:37
that I use, so my handle there is Taz TAS under score wild, my
53:43
website istazwild.com dot AU. If you are in Tassie and you
53:49
find an injured or orphaned animal, you can call Bonorong.
53:53
They have an awesome phone number.
53:55
It is O447 animal, correct? Remember, if you want to become
54:00
a rehabber or learn more about wildlife, for most people
54:06
statewide, sorry, countrywide, it's wires.
54:09
They do a lot of online training.
54:10
That's how you become a rehabber in Tassie as well is doing their
54:13
online components and then sitting the face to face down
54:17
here with us. So through Wildlife Network
54:19
Tasmania, so not-for-profit organization and we are
54:22
supporting the whole wildlife sector.
54:24
It is only early days for us. So we're still sort of getting
54:28
our feelers out to see where we're needed most in what and
54:31
which Ave. But I'm the community engagement
54:34
officer. So you, I, I will be the person,
54:36
the voice, the face that you would will be dealing with if
54:39
you contact us. And other than that, talk to
54:43
you, find out who your local group is.
54:46
If you're up in Brizzy, if you're over in West Australia,
54:48
wherever you're listening from, find out, just Google wildlife
54:51
rescue and then put, put in your like put in Bundaberg or
54:55
Brisbane or whatever it is, wherever you are and go, OK, how
54:58
can I connect with you? Talk to them.
55:00
You know, we are, we're a special breed of people, but I
55:02
can guarantee you that we will tell you ways that you can help
55:06
because we need help. And there we have it, ladies and
55:25
gentlemen, thank you again to Janelle.
55:27
I think the work that she's doing is paramount in today's
55:32
age with so much impact from our growing populations and our
55:38
modern world, that unfortunately, as we become so
55:41
disconnected from nature, we are not even taking a second look at
55:46
the impact that that's having on our wildlife and our ecosystems.
55:51
So hopefully today has inspired you to really look deep inside,
55:55
look around you and notice what is going on and how we can make
55:59
a difference with our native wildlife and not only our native
56:03
wildlife, but our introduced species and wildlife in general.
56:08
So please go and check out all of Janelle's links.
56:11
They will be in the description below and as well as hopefully
56:14
her coloring book, which you can purchase.
56:17
It's going to be an easy way that you can get some fun in
56:21
some coloring for either you or your kids or something like this
56:24
and also do something to support saving our wildlife.
56:28
And if that's all that you can do, then that is still an
56:31
enormous help. So thank you very much for
56:34
listening and for watching and supporting the show.
56:36
Remember, a review of any kind on any of the platforms is such
56:42
a huge help to this podcast. It helps show up in more
56:45
people's feeds and suggested to more people so we can inspire
56:49
more of us to understand these topics and to really, really do
56:53
something about our Wildlife Conservation, our rescue, our
56:58
awareness. So thank you very much for your
57:00
support. Thanks for listening, and I'm
57:02
very excited to see you again next week on another exciting
57:05
episode. Take care.