The first & only all species wildlife hospital in NSW, Byron Bay Wildlife Hospital, is in urgent need of ongoing funding to keep its doors open 7 days a week

 

The staff at Byron Bay Wildlife Hospital doing their thing. Image supplied 

IMAGE: The Echo, December 2023

Byron Bay Wildlife Hospital provides professional veterinary services for injured, diseased, orphaned and displaced native Australian animals. Its services are provided free of charge, 7 days a week, and available to wildlife rescue groups and members of the public.

Although receiving calls from all Australian states & mainland territories, the majority of phone calls made directly to the Wildlife Rescue 24 hour national call centre operated by Wildlife Recovery Australia, the parent organisation of Byron Bay Wildlife Hospital, came from members of the public seeking assistance within Queensland, New South Wales & Victoria in 2024.

These calls for information and assistance were made on behalf of a wide range of Australian native animals in distress, ranging from sea birds, marine mammals & sea turtles through to land birds, koalas, gliders, bandicoots, possums, echidnas, wombats, kangaroos, wallabies, goannas & other lizards, snakes, frogs & small native mice.

ECHO, 1 January 2025:

As Australia’s bushfire season approaches, the only all-species wildlife hospital between Sydney and the Gold Coast has been forced to reduce its opening hours over Christmas/NY as surging patient numbers take their toll on the humans who provide the vital veterinary service free of charge, seven days a week.

‘Combined with no government funding to operate, an uncertain economic climate, donor fatigue and a chronic veterinary sector workforce shortage, the relentless demand for wildlife care has forced us to reduce our opening hours to protect the mental and physical health of our veterinary staff and volunteers,’ said Dr Ken Henry AC, Chair of Wildlife Recovery Australia, the parent organisation of Byron Bay Wildlife Hospital.

‘It’s unsustainable that governments continue to rely on wildlife hospitals like ours to treat the native animals under their legal protection, with no recompense. Recurrent government funding would reduce the mental and physical stress on our people by allowing us to train more people to share the load.’.....

Read the full article at

https://www.echo.net.au/2025/01/wildlife-hospital-vets-struggling-as-summer-patients-surge/

It's happiness as usual on Yamba beaches during the holiday season

Pippi Beach, Yamba NSW
IMAGE: Yamba Weddings

Turners Beach, Yamba NSW
IMAGE: Clarence Coast Holiday Parks

Main Beach, Yamba NSW
IMAGE: Londoner in Sydney

The Courier - Mail, 29 December 2024:

If you’re a surf lifesaver and volunteer to patrol on Christmas, you’ll know what a rewarding experience it is.

Apart from the fact that doing a shift at the beach on our most venerated public holiday is virtue-signalling of the highest order, it offers an iron-clad excuse, if you need it, to get out of tricky family gatherings or participation in tedious board games.

It’s also the happiest day of the year to be on the beach. Everyone’s loving being there, and everyone appreciates the lifesavers being there.

Strangers will come up to patrol members and offer genuine thanks and/or some leftover pavlova.

Big tip for future reference: don’t put yourself in a situation that requires rescue after lunch on Christmas Day.

Another benefit of sitting in a chair for hours watching the crowd having fun between the yellow and red flags is that it offers the opportunity to let your mind freewheel, which is good exercise only without sweat.

On Wednesday, on patrol at Yamba, I turned on the TV in my head and skipped from topic to topic: wondering how various couples on the beach met, what do seagulls really think of us, do fish feel fear, using alliteration for amusement, how many prawns get eaten on Christmas Day, the enormous amount of equipment some people bring to the beach … and how lucky we are to be a swimming nation.

There were several families from overseas on the beach that day. They were easy to spot not because of their accents or wacky swimming costumes … it was the fact they wouldn’t go beyond ankle deep into the gentle surf.

Australia would be an entirely different country if we hadn’t embraced the aquatic life. It’s a credit to our culture that we put so much effort into teaching our kids to swim and that as a nation we are so confident in the water.

The OECD last year released a major report on the influence of swimming competence on people’s lives globally. Australia’s relationship with swimming is referenced repeatedly.

It makes for fascinating reading, and as I watched the kids bodysurfing a sentence in the report came to mind.

“The ability to swim, like other life skills such as being able to drive and cycle, broadens the horizon of the possible and empowers individuals.” Happy new year and see you down the beach.

*********HAPPY NEW YEAR 2025*********

Source: unknown