Cloacal Contemplations

Llyris Wood

Description

For nearly twenty-five years, I have worked with a native wildlife rehabilitation organisation in all aspects of this field. During that time, I have learned a huge amount about native Australian wildlife, humans, and myself.
Along with my partners and other wildlife carers, I have rescued, rehabilitated and released many thousands of native animals – giving them a highly valuable second chance.
What did I do when a bird was caught by its head in a fence? What happens to a Koala with severe eye disease? How did we extricate a bird of prey from a barbed wire fence? Why DID the Echidna cross the road? Are Bats really foul and evil? What happened to the snake wrapped around a bed post? How on earth do you feed thumb-sized baby birds?
This collection of true stories represents how amazing our wildlife is, and how awesome wildlife carers are, plus how lovely the general public can be. The stories give examples of some very funny experiences, and some that are sad – and all are interesting. Embarrassing episodes are also included. Every encounter was educational, individual and never boring.
My personal stories embrace numerous different species of birds, bats, possums, gliders, snakes and lizards, plus anecdotes relating to kangaroos, koalas, echidnas and platypus. I have attempted to be as factual as possible, and to dispel myths around many of these creatures.
I have drawn the illustrations of the animals myself, in order to give a representation of these species.
Throughout the stories, I have emphasised my deepest respect for these animals, and the land they inhabit – on which we live. The challenge of giving them a second chance is complex and demanding, especially the raising and releasing of orphans, and intensely satisfying.
In writing these stories, I want to share my experiences and observations with people, and hopefully bring them some joy from their reading.

Sujets

• Personal Memoirs
• Mammals
• Birds
• Caregiver
• Biography
• Wildlife
• Marsupial
• Mammal
• Wild Life
• Autobiography
• Cloaca

Informations

• Publié par: Xlibris AU
• Date de parution: 11 octobre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669832119
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

Cloacal Contemplations
The Celebrations and Commiserations of a Long-term Wildlife Carer
Llyris Wood

Copyright © 2022 by Llyris Wood.
Interior Image Credit: Llyris Wood
 
ISBN:
Softcover
978-1-6698-3212-6

eBook
978-1-6698-3211-9
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Rev. date: 10/07/2022
 
 
 
 
 
Xlibris
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CONTENTS
Introduction
 
1Excretal Obsession
2Venerable Veterinarians
3Duck Shmuck
4Glider Enchantment
5Big Hoppy Things
6Avian Articulations
7Hot Naked Chicks
8Super Seabirds
9Chiropteran Confrontations
10Reptilian Ruminations
11Summer Festivities
12Koala Cogitations
13Bandicoot Banterings
14Talonial Tribulations
15Echidna Epiphanies and Platypus Postulations
16Possum Huggers
17Quoll-ity Time
18From The Sublime To The Even Tinier – or – Animals You May Never Have Heard Of
19The Exploits and Ecstasies of Endo and Ecto Parasites
20Is This An Owl I See Before Me?
21Fundraising Foibles
22Ornithological Angles
23Anthropological Angles

Cloaca - noun - the common cavity into which the intestinal, urinary, and generative canals open in birds, reptiles, amphibians, many fishes, and certain mammals (marsupials, monotremes). (From Latin cluere – cleanse – or, sewer!)
Introduction
Australian Native animals are far from sexy. With their mainly nocturnal, cryptic, often solitary behaviour, you can spotlight all night in the bush and only see some Flying Foxes in the blossoming trees, and a Brushtail Possum sitting on your garbage bin as you return home.
There is no confident striding through the jungle in beautifully striped attire, or raucous swinging through the trees in highly social groups.
Sitting quietly at dusk or dawn may reward you with squillions of mosquito bites, or perhaps the sight of a Sugar Glider scampering out of sight after changing trees. Unfortunately, if you have your torch shining on the animal as you spot it, your next experience might be an Owl swooping down to collect the highlighted creature.
I became a wildlife carer mainly because of my fascination with the little known marsupials, and my love of birds.
The more I learn, the more I realise I don’t know, and appreciate how compromised are the young of any species which have been human raised and released.
Life in the wild is harsh. Very early in our learning curve, we must come to terms with the fact that “little things have bigger things that eat them”. I have the deepest respect for all our native wildlife, and the land on which we live and work.
Rehabilitating wildlife is an amazing and rewarding experience. It is such a privilege to work so closely with all these species; to glimpse briefly into their lives. We are doing our best to give each animal a second chance in life. Of course there are negatives, but also many positives. Some of both are here to be shared with you.



1
Excretal Obsession
Many years ago, as a naïve 18 year old, I began my training as a nurse. One of the first things I realised in this education was the importance of excreta. From my timid upbringing, in which I was not even aware that humans are supposed to eliminate solid waste products every day, and farting is normal, I soon became an enthusiastic exponent of intestinal productions, with my peers, especially while partaking of meals.
As a wildlife rehabilitator, the significance and knowledge of an animal’s bodily waste products is paramount. Few species’ excreta are alike.
Excreta can not only be differentiated for most mammals, but also for many bird species. Just think of the nicely encapsulated Welcome Swallow waste package, the liquid squirt of a Rainbow Lorikeet, or the juicy green and white lumps from Pacific Black Ducks. Macropods have neat cubes; Brushtailed Possums have bullet-shaped cylinders, Koalas much larger, darker cylinders and Microbats have tiny, shiny 5mm long scats.
I found that learning the specifics of healthy droppings of each species was vital, in order to detect the unhealthy, and treat, via Vet instructions, accordingly.
Obtaining a detailed account of what something had been fed before it came into my care often revealed the reason for aberrant excreta. There is a difference between droppings from something which has been starving for a few days, to one which has been fed bread and honey.
In the process of learning about cloacal waste, I discovered the magic of pellets. Pellets, or castings, are the balled-up indigestible remains of a meal which some birds and mammals eject, via their mouth.
This does not just occur with owls, but the diurnal raptors as well. These may contain fur, bones, feathers, beaks, insect casings, even twigs.
I become very excited when a bird I have in care regurgitates its first pellet. From this, I can discover what may have been its previous meals.
Other birds which eject pellets are Tawny Frogmouths, Kookaburras and Pied Currawongs - which are notorious for bringing up balls of seeds into bird baths.
Flying Foxes chew and squash their fruit, swallow the juice and eject the pulp after each mouthful. These are called “spats” and are the origin for the myth that FFs excrete via their mouth.
So being scatologically minded is not weird, but very healthy, and good nursing practice!

2
Venerable Veterinarians
Wildlife carers, or “specialist wildlife nurses” would not be able to be even 1% effective if not for the superb support of the Veterinarians, Vet Nurses, and vet surgeries everywhere.
They do not charge for the consultations, merely for medications, x-rays and surgical interventions.
Often in incredibly busy consulting rooms, a Vet will make time to see a carer with an animal in extreme pain and distress.
It is so important for our wildlife to be professionally assessed that I make the vet appointment my first priority after my initial assessment of the animal.
Sometimes the long suffering Vets are bitten, scratched, pecked, screeched at and excreted upon, but they will always assist if they can. When, occasionally, euthanasia after euthanasia has been performed, the Vet may become overwhelmed, but like carers, they hold onto the successes. I love giving feedback to the Vets and the Vet Nurses about animals they have treated.
Some Vets even speak at training courses about injuries, diseases and treatments.
From the bottom of my heart, I say “THANK YOU” to all the Veterinarians and their nurses, for the work they have done and continue to do with wildlife, we could not do it without you.


3
Duck Shmuck
Wood Ducks ( Chenonetta jubata ) are among the most numerous of the bird chicks rescued in this area. They are a pretty bird – the male having a chestnut head and neck with a black ‘mane’ and a spotted chest; the female much paler, with a mottled brown and white body. The male is particularly solicitous about the female in the breeding season.
The female lays 9 – 14 eggs in a hollow of a tree-trunk or limb, which she has lined with down. It is often quite high up, and sometimes not near water.
Soon after hatching, the young jump from the hollow to be led by their parents to water and pasture.
Another regular is the Pacific Black Duck ( Anas superciliosa ). The female will lay her 7 – 12 eggs in a hollow, in old nests of waterbirds or ravens, or trample a cavity in dense tangled undergrowth, none of which may be near water.
Of course ducklings are cute. But! If a single duckling comes into care, it usually dies – it pines. Many well-meaning MOPs (members of public) will put the poor little thing in water, and allow the children to play with it, both of which compromise the duckling terminally.
If many ducklings are rescued, due to parents being killed, they can stretch your resources to the limit.
They need lots of room, and LOTS of cleaning. When little and downy, they need warmth, food, and a little water. At first, you can’t even put a big dish of water in their cage, because they will get cold, or drown, and die.
Great care has to be taken with the heat source. It has the potential to overheat, set fire to nearby fabric, and soon, the house.
And, they excrete. Copiously.
So, a container with X amount of ducklings must be kept warm and clean, with fresh food and water at all times. Because they take a mouthful of food and dip it into the water, in only a few minutes the nice clean box is messy again. Great.
Cute, yes. Neat, no.
Then, when they grow up and fly away, you think – “Ah, rest at last from cleaning duck poo”. But no. They soon return, with all their friends and settle into your swimming pool and its surrounds, excreting, of course.
They always appear rather indignant when shooed away.

Daring Ducks
Our small, busy coastal city has a number of creeks meandering through its centre, plus a few man-made lakes and ponds, some with fountains, and lots of parks and fields.
Somehow, each spring, many Pacific Black and Wood Ducks manage to successfully hatch clutches of up to twelve ducklings. From hatching, these are