Walk and care for the animals

Animal rescue and re-vegetation organisation Wires has played a vital role in the survival of wildlife in Australia.

The group is running a new members training program on Saturday 30 and Sunday 31 August at the inner west branch and Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 September for eastern suburbs residents.

The organisation is structured around volunteers and prides itself on putting time back into the environment and providing resources to help restore ecological balance.

Inner west branch chair Brigette Sharp said some species had been locally extinct since the 1950s but thanks to the work of local bush regeneration groups and wildlife carers, enough balance had been restored to the local environment to encourage the animals to return.

The main role of Wires is to rescue and rehabilitate injured or orphaned native animals and to educate the public. It is this last duty that is probably the most important in the long term. If people don’t understand the importance of our wildlife then they won’t act to protect it, she said.

I hope that the future will see membership grow and our skills increase. I hope that carers’ groups across the country will unite and eventually have the ability to influence government policy to consider our native flora and fauna.

The two-day course will teach the basics in animal welfare but the real training will start when you actually deal with live animals.

Once new members are more experienced they can specialise in the care of their favourite animal be it birds, bats, mammals, frogs or snakes, Sharp said.

I don’t know that I have the words to express the pure joy that you get after raising a little animal that came to you with its eyes still closed, and seeing it fly away or scamper up a tree to begin its life with its own kind.

Information on both courses can be obtained by contacting [email protected] or the Sydney Rescue Office on 8977 3333.