We found a baby possum entangled in our back door the other morning - his tail was wrapped around the base of the door and he was on his side, shivering but not otherwise moving. My first thought was that one of the local cats had taken a chunk out of him on the side that we couldn't see, so I got a shovel and told Liz that I was 'taking him to a warm place behind the shed to recover'. But then he moved and we could see that he wasn't obviously injured.
We had a brief panic about what to do but then Liz found the 'Wildcare Australia' website and phoned the emergency number (07 5527 2444). The volunteer on the other end answered within two rings (it was 6.30am) and told us to prepare a small box by punching holes in it, then gently pick the possum up with a towel and put him & the towel in the box with a bottle of hot water to keep him warm. We put the box somewhere dark & quiet and tried not to peek too much whilst we waited for the local vet to open.
An hour later we gently carried the box out to the car and took him to the local vet. By this time he seemed to have recovered a bit and was sitting up & peering out of the top of the box to see what was going on. I handed over the box to the assistant at the vets and she gently took him out for an inspection. Apparently he was badly dehydrated and needed to be nursed back to health before being placed with a volunteer to recuperate & reach an age where he could be re-released. I braced myself for the bill but I wasn't asked for any payment - apparently any vet in Australia will take injured local wildlife for free.
They took our details for re-release purposes, and I have no doubt that in a few months time he'll be back out there eating our plants and keeping us awake at night. I hope so!
No pictures as we didn't want to stress the poor guy out any further, but he looked a bit like this (but cuter)...
So if you find any injured wildlife, don't reach for the shovel. Get in touch with your local volunteer group for immediate action and drop them off at a vet when you can. All it will cost you is a towel...
We had a brief panic about what to do but then Liz found the 'Wildcare Australia' website and phoned the emergency number (07 5527 2444). The volunteer on the other end answered within two rings (it was 6.30am) and told us to prepare a small box by punching holes in it, then gently pick the possum up with a towel and put him & the towel in the box with a bottle of hot water to keep him warm. We put the box somewhere dark & quiet and tried not to peek too much whilst we waited for the local vet to open.
An hour later we gently carried the box out to the car and took him to the local vet. By this time he seemed to have recovered a bit and was sitting up & peering out of the top of the box to see what was going on. I handed over the box to the assistant at the vets and she gently took him out for an inspection. Apparently he was badly dehydrated and needed to be nursed back to health before being placed with a volunteer to recuperate & reach an age where he could be re-released. I braced myself for the bill but I wasn't asked for any payment - apparently any vet in Australia will take injured local wildlife for free.
They took our details for re-release purposes, and I have no doubt that in a few months time he'll be back out there eating our plants and keeping us awake at night. I hope so!
No pictures as we didn't want to stress the poor guy out any further, but he looked a bit like this (but cuter)...
No comments:
Post a Comment