All creatures great and small
Leopold shelter animals treated like no other
Today is World Wildlife Day. While the United Nations-named day is celebrated across the planet, a wildlife shelter in Leopold, right on our doorstep, is doing its best every day to preserve and protect our native animals.
Leopold Wildlife Shelter rescues and rehabilitates orphaned and injured wildlife. Their mission is to rescue, raise, rehabilitate and release orphaned and injured animals back to their natural environment.
Each year the shelter rescues about 1500 animals. Half of these only need to be captured and relocated to a suitable area away from humans, cars and cats, while the other half have to be rehabilitated at the shelter.
When they have recovered, the animals are released back into the wild.
David and Helen Burrell and a dedicated team of 35 volunteers run the wildlife shelter. In 2009, a television program, Random Acts of Kindness, built them a hospital.
The wildlife rescue shelter performs a lot of dangerous rescues all over the region, including in some remote areas. Native animals, birds and reptiles are received at the shelter and evaluated.
They may be placed in the in-house hospital, neonatal care unit or one of the other facilities for rehabilitation and treatment until they can be released back into the wild.
The rescue vehicle/ambulance is decked out with firefighting equipment, cages of all sizes, nets for birds, ropes and harnesses for climbing and internal cameras for monitoring wildlife that are being transported.
The Leopold Wildlife Shelter is one of the only shelters in Australia that capture native wildlife, including macropods, by hand without using drugs or nets.
Macropod means “big foot”. Though members of the macropod family live in diverse habitats all over Australia and can vary in colour and size, they all have big feet in common.
They use their powerful hind legs, strong tail and big feet to cover large distances in every hop. Macropods include kangaroos, wallabies, treekangaroos, pademelons, bettongs and potoroos.
Six species of macropod are already extinct and a number of species are listed as endangered or threatened.
Only one person is sent to capture each macropod, not large teams of people with nets, tranquillisers and camouflage suits. This method eliminates capture myopathy (or shock disease), a condition observed in wild animals that have been captured or handled.
The Leopold Wildlife Shelter is also a teaching centre that trains people in how to safely rescue and care for native wildlife. They have one rule: personal safety is always the main objective.
Never attempt an animal rescue unless it is safe for you to do so. Many of Australia’s native wildlife are dangerous — from snakes right through to an eastern grey kangaroo.
If you come across an injured animal and are unsure, uneasy or nervous, then leave it alone and call for an expert or wildlife rescue person.
It is a good idea to have the phone number of your local wildlife rescue services in your phone. The Leopold Wildlife Shelter is on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and is more than happy to help.