Aussie Wildlife Recovery & Emergency Preparedness

This year marked an important milestone for WIRES - we launched a specialist recovery facility for injured raptors! 

Every year we receive around 1,700 calls for injured raptors, and yet birds of prey are extremely difficult to rehabilitate. They often need specialised care, followed by vast, circular flight aviaries so they can regain muscle and wing strength before they can be successfully returned to the wild. 

This specialist facility is named it Mullyang, which means Wedge-tailed Eagle in the local Gundungurra language. 

The facility is undergoing an extensive range of essential maintenance and upgrades, making sure it is fully equipped for the rehabilitation of injured raptors, and other local native species needing specialist care.  

We look foward to updating you on the magnificant species that will learn to spread their wings and soar once more - thanks to your support! 

From country to city – you're helping give rescued wildlife their second chance.  

Still on the topic of lifesaving wildlife facilities, we also recently co-launched the WIRES Native Animal Recovery Centre in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs.

A facility has actually existed near the site for over two decades, but it recently received a significant upgrade, in collaboration with the New South Wales government, WIRES and Randwick City Council. It’s a great example of the protection and support we can provide local wildlife when we work together!  

The purpose-built facility supports the work of WIRES volunteers and now includes nine possum enclosures, three specialist bird enclosures and a pre-release flight aviary. Among the first wildlife patients to attend the facility were a ring tailed possum, a brush-tailed possum, some rainbow lorikeets and two juvenile ibis – the very bird that helped sparked the birth of WIRES 40 years ago!  

Thank you for your support. You are helping to provide rescued native animals with a second chance of life in the wild, and on their behalf we are very grateful. 

The purpose of the WIRES training team is to make sure sick and injured Australian native animals receive the highest standard of care.

Our Head of WIRES Training and Development, Jenn, pictured above gives us a brief insight into the team that develops and delivers training for WIRES volunteers, and for wildlife rehabilitators across the country.

Thanks for joining us Jenn. Can you tell us one of the most surprising parts of your role? 

Well, I think it’s the diversity!  

Australia has such a huge number of unique species, and they often have very specialised rescue and care needs. In the past year we’ve produced courses for the rescue and care of seabirds, lizards and turtles, and in previous years, for raptors, frogs, sea snakes, Tasmanian mammals, macropods, koalas, bats, possums and gliders - you name it we’ve produced a care course for it!  

That’s a very impressive list!   

Yes, we like to keep busy!  At present we have over 35 specialist courses available. We’ve also developed training material for specific wildlife emergencies – Bushfire Emergency Response and Heat Stress Events for Flying Foxes for example.  

As weather events become more frequent and extreme, responding to these emergencies is going to become more and more critical for our most vulnerable species.It's so important our volunteers are equipped with the skills and knowledge to do that.   

What do you think our most important new course was this year? 

For me it was our Understanding Pain in Wildlife course.  Alleviating the pain and minimizing stress for wildlife will always be critical for their welfare, but we also know the less stress and suffering an animal endures, the better their chances for release back into the wild – so there’s an ecological importance to pain management during rescue and care too.  

More than 760 wildlife carers completed that course last financial year, which means those skills are now going to have an immediate positive impact on literally thousands of injured and sick native animals.    

That’s great to hear Jenn. Are there any other highlights you’d want our supporters to know about? 

Well, just that sick, injured and orphaned native animals can’t speak up for themselves. They can’t ask for expert care, they can't ask for pain management. I’m so grateful for the donations we receive, which enable us to provide these wildlife-saving skills to our volunteers. In the past year over 3,600 individual WIRES courses were completed so we know wildlife volunteers really do care deeply about providing the best care possible.