Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre

Our big event today was visiting the Wildlife Rescue Rehabilitation & Education (WRRE), a non-profit organisation caring for Australia’s Wildlife as well as educating the public on the need for their help to ensure wildlife’s survival. The person who founded the organization and the sole caretaker is a woman named Trish. Let me tell you, she is soft spoken but a true powerhouse! She does enlist the help of the local community and some volunteers, but the lion’s share of the work falls on her shoulders.

Trish may have 100 or more animals in her care at any given time. Mostly rescue animals that have been dropped off or have been reported to her so she could go pick them up. She told me she once travelled 400 kilometers (249 miles) to pick up a couple of kangaroos that had been hit by a car.

We saw roos, skinks, koalas, cockatoos, a Wedge-tailed Eagle, brushtail possums, echidnas, emu, and more. All rehabilitating under Trish’s watchful eye and loving care. Most of the animals we could not handle. Trish wants them to not get too used to human contact, because the goal is to release them back into the wild. However, she did let the adults feed some baby kangaroos and wallabies. She brought us out some possums (which are 1000x cuter than the American Opossum). The kids were able to feed baby echidnas (called puggles).

They asked a lot of great questions and we learned a lot. It was wonderful meeting Trish and seeing the amazing work she is doing.Read more