Highlighting Our Heroes

Wildlife Heroes Project Manager, Stacey Mole (pictured above), has been out on the road visiting with NSW volunteer wildlife rescue and rehabilitation groups. Currently, the Wildlife Heroes project is funded until the end of 2023, and there is an Action Implementation Plan to be written. This plan will underpin what the Wildlife Heroes Project will undertake over the next year and a half. Gaining insight into how groups are going, their needs, issues, and wish lists by meeting with members of wildlife groups in person will help inform this plan. Here is an update from Stacey about the trip so far:

“Over the past few weeks I have met with seven wildlife rescue volunteer groups, one wildlife hospital, and a representative from Taronga Institute of Science and Learning. I am now at the turn around point of my journey in the chilly town of Jindabyne where, for the first time, I have indulged in a motel room instead of sleeping in my camper. My weather app says ‘feels like -3.9°C’ outside!

I hope to visit more groups, and possibly independent licence holders on the way back to my home in the Northern Rivers, where I will catch up with local groups as well. So, the journey is not over yet…
[Editor’s Note: By the time this blog was published, Stacey had visited ten groups in total.]

My gathering of information this far has shown me the diverse needs of the different groups, and there is a lot of information for me to tease through. However, most groups will speak to the need for more people on the ground doing jobs that will help share the work load.

It seems most groups are based around a core group of individuals who are the key rescue and rehabilitators, who also tend to the 24-hour hot line and do all the administrative tasks. People are time poor; they are tired, some are emotionally wrung out – they need help.

If you’re a member of a group, please know that there is always, ALWAYS a way you can contribute. If the stress of rescue, or heartbreak of losing a patient in rehabilitation is not for you, there are many, many other tasks that need to be done. There’s the phone to answer, volunteers to coordinate, food to distribute, data to manage, grant applications to write, social media posts to make, cages to build, webpages to manage, fundraisers to organise, etc. etc. And, if you happen to have land in a quiet place away from traffic and dogs, and can devote an area to become a soft-release site, please contact your local wildlife group – they need you!

At this point, I just want to pay tribute to the dedication I have seen out there in the wildlife sector. I am truly humbled and inspired. Thank you, for all that you do.”

-Stacey

Wildlife Heroes is a project managed by FNPW and designed to help and support Australia’s 10,000+ volunteer wildlife carers. Funding for the project has been received through the NSW Government Environmental Trust in NSW, the Australian Government and FNPW donors and sponsors.

For more information on this project, visit https://wildlifeheroes.org.au/