Volunteer vets come to the rescue of our injured wildlife

When we heard that some of our local vets were inundated with injured wildlife, we were delighted that the Sydney Wildlife Mobile Care Unit could come to their rescue.

This incredible team has been camping out at Council’s Coastal Environment Centre at Narrabeen treating all kinds of native Australian wildlife every Thursday for over seven months. 

We checked in with some of their champion volunteers.

Mobile Care Unit coordinators Lynleigh Greig and Joan Reid said they had treated a range of animals from bats, bandicoots and gliders to wallabies, goannas and death adders.  

“Our patients have varied from a 2-gram frog to an 80 kilogram kangaroo!”

Treatments take place in a recreational vehicle converted to a fully operational veterinary service on wheels.  

Thanks to the donors’ generosity the vehicle is fitted out with a surgery table, enclosures, reptile handling gear and diagnostic equipment such as radiography, microscopy, blood analysis, ultrasound and more.  

The team, consisting of four qualified local vets and four experienced wildlife careers, see around 10 patients a day, estimated to be over 1800 hours of work over the seven month period - all on a completely voluntary basis!

Additionally these amazing volunteer veterinarians not only provide first-class treatment to their patients, but offer their time to train vet students in their final year of study.

Carers from any wildlife rescue organisation are invited to book appointments here.

If you are interested in becoming a wildlife carer or just want to find out more information about how Council supports caring for native wildlife, visit our website here.