Wildlife rescuers and carers rely on veterinary clinics and wildlife hospitals to triage and treat injured Flying-foxes. To explore the need for expanded capacity to treat Bats and Flying-foxes, we caught up with Dr Tania Bishop, to discuss  how extreme heat events impact our Flying-fox populations. Dr Tania Bishop is the WIRES Wildlife Veterinarian and has an extensive background in veterinary science, with over 20 years of experience assisting Australian wildlife. Recently, Tania was a keynote speaker at the Australian Wildlife Rehabilitation Conference, where she discussed the imp ..read more

Each year WIRES runs a highly anticipated wildlife photography competition. This competition is an opportunity for our community to share their favourite photographs of Australian wildlife taken in the wild or in care over the past year. The images shared with us and those selected as our finalists in previous years have been simply stunning and we are excited to see all the submissions for 2021. Each year WIRES runs a highly anticipated wildlife photography competition. This competition is an opportunity for our community to share their favourite photographs of Australian wildlife taken in t ..read more

Lorikeet Paralysis Syndrome (LPS) is a disease occurring in wild Rainbow Lorikeets (Trichoglossus haematodus) that causes the birds to become paralysed and unable to fly. Professor David Phalen from University of Sydney’s School of Veterinary Science has been working with the support of WIRES to better understand the cause of LPS.   In celebration of National Science week, we’ve asked Professor Phalen to explain the project and the science behind it.  Could you describe what you do and why you chose to work with wildlife?I have many h ..read more

To celebrate #NationalScienceWeek we caught up with our partners AussieArk to talk about conservation ecology, threatened species and the Bonorong Sanctuary.  Could you tell us a bit about Aussie Ark, your mission and why it is so important for the future of Australian wildlife?Aussie Ark was established in 2011 as ‘Devil Ark’, with a focus on saving the iconic Tasmanian devil from extinction. Since then and due to overwhelming success, the role of the organisation has expanded, and now has vision of creating a long-term future for our threatened Australian species. Aussie Ark ..read more

Following the major 2019/20 bushfires, the Koala Health Hub (KHH) at the University of Sydney was the recipient of a three-year grant from WIRES. The grant has sustained the KHH and allowed it to respond to a dramatic increase in need for koala care and management following decades of drought and other significant impacts on their populations. WIRES funding is being used for continued technical, administrative, and postdoctoral support. WIRES and KHH have a strong history of working together to deliver improved health outcomes for koalas and this tranche of funding has allowed KHH to implement ..read more

With the 'Polar Blast' hitting much of eastern Australia this week we would like to share some information on how this sort of weather can impact wildlife and how you can help. Although most of our native animals are well adapted to normal changes in weather conditions, extended periods of wet weather and snow can still cause hypothermia. Animals can cope with extremes in temperatures they are used to, but if these extremes are unusual for a particular area the animals there may struggle. Animals with existing health issues, that are very young or old, will find it harder to cope with the col ..read more

WIRES has announced $420,000 in funding for Animal Rescue Cooperative (ARC) to help improve national emergency response capabilities and provide national assistance to the wildlife rescue and rehabilitation sector. This grant is building on the support provided in the aftermath of 19/20 summer bushfires and drought. WIRES worked closely with ARC to distribute tonnes of food, medical and craft supplies, to wildlife rescuers in fire affected communities.   ARC has an established national network that has quickly grown in its ability to manage large scale emergency response including compl ..read more

Natural tree hollows are an increasingly scarce and valuable resource for many native species and for some they are essential. Hollows provide safe places to shelter and in many cases to breed. Natural hollows that are suitable to support wildlife can take 100-200 years to form and many hollow-bearing trees were lost in the 2019/20 bushfire season. In response to this, in collaboration with The Men's Shed and ARC, WIRES have delivered 538 boxes to help WIRES volunteers and small mammals across 20 branches. WIRES provided funding to the Mens Shed for the boxes which they said helped them immen ..read more

Thank you to all the veterinary practices who applied for a WIRES Flying-fox Veterinary Vaccination Grant.   As a part of WIRES emergency preparedness program, we established a grant to cover the costs of vaccinations for vet clinic staff nationally, up to $50,000.  Due to the outstanding response to the program WIRES doubled the allocation of funding to over $100,000. This funding supported 100 veterinary practices across the country to vaccinate more than 250 staff this year. This emergency preparedness program was specifi ..read more

Through March, we have been celebrating the 35th anniversary of WIRES rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing native wildlife. When WIRES was founded back in 1986, little did we know that 35 years later we would become the largest wildlife rescue organisation in Australia.  Click image to enlarge In the last 15 years, over 20,000 WIRES volunteers have helped wildlife. This includes providing rescue advice and assistance for over 1,000,000 animals.  We currently have over 3,500 members and work closely with hundreds of vets to assist wildli ..read more