MARCH NEWSLETTER 2017 Thank You Volunteers Page 6 PATIENT PROFILES Page 5 Reptile Residents Page 4 Easter Bilby Fun Page 7
From the Chair Welcome to our autumn 2017 Newsletter. The Board Kanyana has had many volunteers serve as Board members since it became incorporated in 1986. After 30 years June Butcher decided to step down as Chairperson at the end of 2016 and will remain as the Founder and a Board member. The transition to another Chairperson is a new experience for Kanyana, and one which we aim to make as smooth as possible. Thank you to June and her late husband Lloyd for their vision in establishing this wonderful organisation! Thank you Sandy Tomas, for your commitment to Kanyana and undertaking many roles in your time with us and we welcome our newest Board member, Sue Rose, who has many roles at Kanyana, including Caretaker, onsite mammal coordinator and small bird carer. We welcome Tara Jenkins to the position of Woylie coordinator. Internet and Phone We apologise if you have had difficulty in accessing our website or email. Internet access has been a major problem. Kanyana s location is classified as semi-rural/rural and is situated at the end of the phone line as part of the original line works. NBN work is currently underway but we are not on their schedule until 2018. In the meantime, we are looking at all options that allow us to operate efficiently. Kanyana remains, very much, open for business. Discover Kanyana Day This year, after a survey was sent to our volunteers, we decided to cancel Discover Kanyana Day, because some of our core people who have been involved with organising the event for many years have other commitments. There is always a lot of preparation work and time involved, apart from helping on the day, and we hope to have one again next year. In the meantime we are looking at other options for this year. Fundraising Kanyana will welcome anyone willing to organise a fundraising event from start to finish. Helen Riley Chairperson News Flash from the Board Henry has a new companion Cockatoo an Inland Red-tailed Black Cockatoo. This Cockatoo was admitted to Perth Zoo after being confiscated from an illegal breeder, and was subsequently hand-raised at Kaarakin Black Cockatoo Conservation Centre in Martin, WA. He proved not to be releasable and has lived there since, in an aviary with other red-tails. He is friendly and will fly onto shoulders and will be suitable for education and be easy to train. His diet of nutritionally balanced parrot pellets and fresh food is the same as Henry s and the two birds are already eating together. Meet and Greet opportunities with the redtails are available through Kanyana s website booking system at www.kanyanawildlife.org.au. Caring, Conserving, Connecting Kanyana Wildlife is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to wildlife conservation. Our core activities are: Rehabilitation of sick, injured, orphaned, and displaced wildlife Breeding program for endangered species Scientific research in nationally recognised programs Education for schools and community groups About Kanyana Wildlife Established in 1986 by June & Lloyd Butcher at their home, Kanyana moved to Lesmurdie in 2010. The centre survives on donations, and is run by 300 volunteers and one part-time staff member. 2.
Volunteer Update After a long, busy summer the hospital is now slowing down and the volunteers have time to look around to see what needs replacing, mending and sorting. Many thanks to all of you for a wonderful effort! At Kanyana we deferred the WA Thank a Volunteer day from 6th December to 18th March, when we welcomed 60 of our volunteers to a Quiz and BBQ. Helen Riley, our new Chairperson, acknowledged and thanked June for her long-standing contribution to Kanyana. This newsletter also highlights two long term volunteers leaving Kanyana Wildlife; one returning overseas and the other to explore other avenues of interest. Johanna ter Wiel Johanna ter Wiel joined Kanyana Wildlife in 1994, and is still providing care to sick, injured and orphaned wildlife in the hospital, and information to the volunteers and members of the public who help care for these animals. Johanna has worked in many positions in the hospital and as a Board member. Johanna is well known as a home carer and Possum Coordinator. On the 1st March, a lunch was held in her honour allowing a group of the volunteers and Board members to say goodbye in a relaxed atmosphere as Johanna is returning to Holland, to re-join her family. Johanna s late husband, Tom, was also a staunch supporter and a volunteer at Kanyana. We will all miss her presence and her valuable knowledge greatly. Sandy Tomas Sandy Tomas spent her 11 years with Kanyana Wildlife as volunteer, treatment person, Hospital Manager, Woylie coordinator and Board member. For the past few years Sandy was responsible for professionally writing our Policies. We all appreciated Sandy s positive approach. As the Woylie Coordinator, Sandy looked after the captive breeding program, and saw many of the babies born to our Woylies transferred to safe release sites to bolster the numbers of this endangered species. Sandy s husband, Mario, has also contributed through his IT skills and even acted as Returning Officer at Kanyana s Annual General Meeting. Everyone will miss Sandy s knowledge, laughter and kindness at this facility and we wish her well for the next stage of her life. Recognition of Service badges Service badges with Kanyana s new logo are now available. The badges will be awarded for 4, 8, 12, 16, 20 and 24 years service, as suggested by Jack in the Box in the Strategic Plan developed as part of the Orange Seed Award granted to Kanyana in 2015. Marg Buckland Volunteer Coordinator 3.
Kanyana s Reptile Residents While the Hospital is the focus of our activities at Kanyana, for both volunteers and visitors our resident animals are a great source of interest and enjoyment; and while reptiles are not everyone s favourites, the occupants of our reptile room have their own special appeal for many. As with the rest of our resident animals, some of our reptiles came to us as patients but were not candidates for release for a variety of reasons, and so have become part of the Kanyana community. We have also acquired some reptiles by donation, and one or two specifically for education use, for example our two new Bearded Dragons who play an important role in the on-site tutorials attended by visiting Murdoch University vet students. Our reptile collection is small, but not short of characters! Tilly the Eastern Blue Tongue lizard is a long-term resident who came to us after being found in a truck load that had come to Perth from the Eastern States. Because her origin couldn t be traced, she couldn t be returned to the east and took up residency at Kanyana, where she had an important role in our Education team for many years. She is now usually to be found enjoying a well-earned retirement from active duty. Smuggle the Bobtail came to Kanyana after a seizure of reptiles that were being smuggled out of WA for sale overseas, where sadly some of our wildlife can attract big prices among illegal collectors. She was a little feisty at first, but settled in well and happily shares her home with our other resident bobtails, Yorna and Kora, and is now a key member of our education collection. While we don t keep venomous snakes at Kanyana, our pythons are always a centre of attention for visitors, being greeted with varying degrees of enthusiasm! Our Stimson s Pythons, Jinda and Mrs Brown, as smaller pythons, seem to strike a particular chord with many of our younger visitors. Sylvester the Southern Carpet Python was donated to us by a vet who was moving east and couldn t take him along. At over five feet long he still has some growing to do, and although generally good-natured, can be quite a handful if he chooses not to cooperate! Many of our volunteers who joined us without any real knowledge of or interest in reptiles have come to greatly enjoy the time they spend in the reptile room, and we hope that if you are visiting Kanyana you may have the opportunity to share in that experience. 4.
Patient profiles Since the 1st December, we have seen 898 admissions to date! As you can imagine this has kept our volunteers extremely busy. Things are now starting to quieten down. Some of our special admission stories include a rainbow bee-eater, sacred ibis, pygmy possum and a woylie. An adult female woylie came to us with a severe mite infestation. Her poor tail had completely crusted over from the mites and it was cracking and bleeding. She was very sorry for herself in the first few days, and then the scabbing started falling off. Within 4 days the scabbing was gone and she was much improved. Currently still in care she will be released soon, to continue breeding to help out her critically endangered species. Our sacred ibis admission came to us looking very scruffy and unable to stand on its right leg. We noticed a puncture on the thigh, so we started antibiotics and presumed a raptor attack. After monitoring over the weekend, we realised that we should be seeing more improvement, so we sent it to Wattle Grove Veterinary Hospital for assessment. Xrays were taken to prove that it had been shot and there was still a pellet in the thigh. The vets safely removed this and the ibis is now having a daily buffet of fish, insects, mice and chicken while it recovers and regains full use of the right leg. Underweight and ears full of mites is how a female pygmy possum arrived at Kanyana. After a thorough assessment, she was taken into home care. We treated for mites, and finally after five days they had all dropped off. Thankfully they had not done any permanent damage to her ears. She gained weight every day from a delicious feed of fruit, nectar, native flowers and mealworms. Near the end we almost had to put her on a diet she loved her food. Once we were happy with her weight, behaviour and attitude she was released back into her territory. Last, but certainly not least we got to take care of a beautiful rainbow bee-eater. After the recent rains a rescuer found a beeeater nest that had been flooded. Unfortunately two siblings had already passed away, and another did so at the vet centre where they were admitted. The lucky last was passed onto Kanyana and although it was touch and go for a while, it pulled through! Gaining weight and colour every day we taught this one how to hunt on the wing by volunteers getting sore arms by waving food around in the aviary and holding it up. The bee eater thought that this was great fun to watch, as did the other volunteers! Eventually the little bee-eater understood what was happening and started flying over the hand, snatching up the food as it went past. After proving to be a capable hunter, it was released into a wild flock of bee-eaters, just in time for them to start their migration up north for the winter. 5.
Thank You Volunteers! Kanyana s 2016 Thank you to our Volunteers held on 18th March 2017 The Quiz developed by the Hospital Manager, Tasha Hennings, and the BBQ dinner were enjoyed by all. Thank you all the volunteers who provided the salads and sweets and organised the event. Meet and Greet Meet and Greet opportunities with the red-tails are available through Kanyana s website booking system at www. kanyanawildlife.org.au. 6.
Easter Bilby Fun 7.
Donate to Save them! In 1996 the Kanyana Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre Inc and its Gift Fund were entered into the Register of Environmental Organisations. This entry allows donors to claim a tax deduction for amounts over $2.00. We have good facilities and amazing volunteers. WE NEED YOUR FINANCIAL SUPPORT PLEASE Why donate: Injured wildlife hospital admissions have reached 2,600 and are increasing annually. Operational costs for food, electricity, medications, insurance, gas and water are increasing. Federal and State government funding for the care and rehabilitation of native animals has ceased. Donations may be made: at www.kanyanawildlife.org.au at www.givenow.com.au; by workplace giving through good2give; to the Kanyana Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre Gift Fund; in person at 120 Gilchrist Road, Lesmurdie during office hours 10.00-4.00; By phone 9291 3900 (Option4) Kanyana Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre Gift Fund Banking Details: BSB 016 341 ACCOUNT NO 3540 29812 ABN 49 078 848 971 CHEQUES PAYABLE TO: KANYANA WILDLIFE REHABILITATION CENTRE GIFT FUND KANYANA WILDLIFE REHABILITATION CENTRE INC. 120 Gilchrist Road, Lesmurdie. WA 6076 (08) 9291 3900 info@kanyanawildlife.org.au www.kanyanawildlife.org.au Photography by Dave Patman Newsletter designed by Proof Creative Design Corporate Sponsors 2017 8.