Published on the 14th May 2015 by ANSTO Staff
In celebration of the contribution that over six million Australians make to their communities, we ask ANSTO employee Jane Howard who volunteers with both WIRES and the Sutherland Shire Animal Shelter, to share her story.
What are the organisations that you volunteer for and what is the role of those organisations in the community?
I volunteer for WIRES and the Sutherland Shire Animal Shelter. WIRES – the NSW Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service – is a non-profit organisation that has around 2000 volunteer wildlife carers across NSW who rescue, rehabilitate and release injured, distressed and orphaned Australian native animals.
The Sutherland Shire Animal Shelter is a local council run facility that houses dogs and cats (and the occasional rabbit) that have been found stray or abandoned, or have been seized. If animals cannot be returned to their owners, the shelter tries to find new homes for them.
How did it start for you?
I started with WIRES after I found an injured bird and called WIRES. I realised that it was something I could and wanted to do because I love animals.
I started at the shelter because at the time I lived in a small ‘no pets allowed’ unit and missed having a dog. It seemed the next best thing.
What you do within those organisations?
My work with WIRES mainly focuses on raising orphan baby brushtail and ringtail possums that are reported, or dropped into vets, by members of the public. The possums are generally orphaned after their mothers are killed, mostly by motor vehicles or domestic pets.
The babies are feed formula milk, fruit and vegetables and/or native leaves depending upon their stage of development. We create environments for them in baskets or cages that replicate their normal life in the wild including woollen pouches to replicate the mother’s pouch and lots of branches and native leaves.
After they get to a certain age I pass the babies onto carers with larger aviaries who live near native bushland. The possums then go through a slow process of staged release back into the wild. The whole process can take up to nine months or more.
I volunteer at the animal shelter for 2 to 3 hours a week. My main role is to walk the dogs. As the poor little guys are stuck in cages most of the day, we take them for walks of generally an hour to give them some freedom and exercise. During the walks we also give them some basic obedience training and socialise them with other dogs from the shelter.
Ultimately, why do you do it?
I love animals. Plus, someone has to care for the poor creatures we humans hit with our cars, allow to be killed by our wandering pets or wilfully abandon into animal shelters.
Visit the WIRES website or the Sutherland Shire Animal Shelter website if you are interested in volunteering for these organisations.