How you can support our wildlife

Last year alone the UQ VETS Small Animal Hospital dealt with over 800 cases of injured wildlife, many needing emergency treatment and rehabilitation. This included treating up to two to three patients a day, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, while at the same time providing invaluable training to our veterinary science and veterinary technology students on wildlife care.

It will not come as a surprise that cars are a major threat to wildlife, but provided injured animals are given immediate care, many have a good chance of being rehabilitated.

An example of this is when a good Samaritan brought in an echidna he found rolled up in a ball by the roadside. UQ VETS Veterinary Nurse, Rebecca de Gier explained;  

 “Luckily for the echidna (who we named George), the good Samaritan had the presence of mind and kindness to drive five hours to bring him into UQ VETS to get treated. We discovered after an X-ray he had a fracture in his beak. This was an issue because echidnas have a 15cm long tongue, housed in their long beak, which they rely on to catch their food. But with continued rehabilitation in a separate wildlife enclosure, mainly to ensure minimal human contact, and a natural diet of termites, he fortunately made a full recovery.”

This story is one of many rewarding cases that are achieved thanks to the great team effort by the UQ VETS Small Animal Hospital, our dedicated volunteer carers and also due to the rescuer who travelled many kilometers, not only to bring George, the injured echidna, in but to return him back into his natural habitat.