Bonorong

When we first arrived at our resort, the rooms weren't ready. As we were waiting I was reading the local paper, and there was an article about how they were recruiting wildlife carers. They get a lot of orphans from roadkill, and as we traveled to Port Arthur and back I did notice a lot of roadkill, which was sad, but Bonorong ended up being very educational about the entire issue.

First of all, Bonorong is built around rehabilitating wildlife and re-releasing into the wild whenever possible. They may not always have all species represented, depending on what is happening, but we got to see a lot, and our guide just taught us so much about Tasmania and each of the animals and about conservation.

One thing that he did not spell out, but I realized while we were there, is that having the mammal population be marsupials is what gives you the high incidence of orphans requiring care. With regular mammals, if you hit the mother the babies are probably hidden somewhere in the woods, and you will never find them so they will either survive or not without human interference. In Australia, the babies are on-board.

First of all, you can do things to avoid hitting wildlife. Watch out for areas near water, where there are clearings in the woods, and I believe at dips in the road. These are likely animal crossings, so reducing speed and keeping your eyes open is a good idea. The other hazard is roadkill. There are scavenging animals that will come to clean up, and if dinner is in the middle of the road, that puts the diner in danger too. So, if you do hit something in the middle of the road, please drag it off to the side.

If you kill an animal, scoop the pouch and check for babies. The best thing you can do for them is keep them warm, and putting them in your shirt may be the best way to do that, as it will be the closest thing to Mum. At this point there are numbers you can call to figure out the next step, including calling Bonorong. If I lived there I am sure I would become a carer, but generally without that training you will probably not be able to feed them well, so call someone who knows and keep them warm until them.

Those numbers can be useful if you non-fatally injure an animal too. The grimmest part was that he was explaining that if you fatally injure but do not kill an animal (so it is going to die, but hasn't yet), the kindest thing you can do is a solid blow to the back of the head. This seems to have scarred Maria, because later on Kangaroo Island she saw an orphaned echidna puggle at a wildlife center and she kept worrying they were going to kill it. Since they were in the process of rehabilitating it, and letting people see it, I think her worries were groundless, but she really feared for its life.

Anyway, I'm not sure if we were different because we came in a group, but we went in, got our little bags of food, and the guide (pictured with the wombat, Pixie) went through the different pens telling us about each animal. He truly had an encyclopedic knowledge of them. He went over their unique characteristics, what their rehabilitation is like, similarities to the other animals, and habits in the wild. We really learned a lot. We found the wombat information especially interesting, maybe because we just hadn't known much about them before. Then we got some free time to wander around.

Possibly the best thing he told us is that you can pet the kangaroos on the head or back, and they won't mind, but they will think you are telling them to be off. What they really love is being scratched on the chest.

It may be breed specific, because the kangaroos at Maru (Phillip Island tour) did not seem to care for it, but this mob loved it. I would take some food from the bag and put it in my left palm, letting the kangaroo eat. Then, as it was finishing, with my right hand I would start scratching the chest, and the kangaroo would just bliss out and lean into my hand, and it was amazing. Obviously, this took both hands so I have no pictures of it, but it is the best!

Obviously, more pictures are up on Shutterfly, but here we have a koala, wombat with keeper, a devil, Cape Barren Geese, and an absolutely adorable little kangaroo joey. (I had always thought of joeys as baby kangaroos, but it looks like that term is for all infant marsupials, and puggles is for all infant monotremes and one poorly advised dog mix).

In case anyone knows that koala are not native to Tasmania, and wonders why they are at this rehabilitation place, a sanctuary on the mainland had a fire, and Bonorong took in a few to help. That's one thing right there-- it is an amazing place to visit on its own, but you can also really feel like you are supporting something worthwhile.


http://www.bonorong.com.au/joomla/index.php