All Creatures Rescues

The RSPCA is no stranger to bird rescues, especially birds that are entangled in netting! A juvenile magpie in Runcorn has been the most recent rescue call out – both its legs were tied up! The precious magpie was entangled in cotton string. Whilst Nicole our Rescue Officer was cutting the string free from its feet, his sibling and parents were anxiously watching on. The string was tight, but luckily not tight enough to have caused damage.

After Nicole checked that he still could use his feet, she was able to release him! Guess where he went? Straight back to his mum, once able to walk freely again. The lovely caller hadn’t slept for three nights because she was so worried about the little magpie she saw in a tangle, luckily the rescue was a great outcome for everyone!

Fishing lures, hooks and line are other hazards for birds and often can cause an entangled bird to have serious injuries, sometimes even resulting in death. In another recent case, Nicole was back out rescuing a seagull that had a fishing lure go through the top and bottom of his beak! He couldn’t even open his mouth to eat. Once rescued, Nicole took the seagull back to our Wildlife Hospital. Luckily, this little seagull was treated and made a full recovery. He’s now been released back into the wild!  

This is an important reminder to always dispose of your fishing waste mindfully. This poor seagull would have died of starvation without rescue.

Seen an animal in need of rescuing? Contact our 24/7 Animal Emergency Hotline 1300 ANIMAL (1300 264 625).

Our wonderful team of volunteers and staff put in a lot of hours and hard work to make sure all animals that need help, receive that help. Rescue Officer Dani was sent out to help a rare case that involved an echidna. The caller was building a fence on a property in South Ripley when they found an echidna had fallen down one of the holes and into PVC piping! The echidna was about 0.8m deep. But never fear, Dani was able to get underneath the piping and retrieve the echidna. This little one is now receiving veterinary care in our Wildlife Hospital.

If you want to experience the thrill of rescuing unique animals such as echidnas and providing them with a happy ending, check out some of our volunteer roles we have available here.

Love them or loathe them, even our slippery friends need help! Snake rescues are pretty common for our Rescue Team, especially in the warmer months. This particular rescue was a strange one!

A carpet python got stuck in a roller door in Carindale. Rescue Officers Sam, Dani and Warren were able to safely rescue the snake and he was bought back to the RSPCA Wildlife Hospital to ensure he wasn’t too badly injured from his misadventure. After a couple of days under vet care, Dani released the snake into nearby bushland to where he was rescued. Hopefully he does try to squeeze into a roller door again!  

Animal Rescue Officer Sam rescued three ducklings that managed to get stuck down a drain from heavy rain in Crestmead. Unfortunately, when Sam arrived, she found their mum deceased on the side of the road near the drain. It was raining heavily all day, so Sam quickly retrieved the wet ducklings from their predicament. The little fuzzy duckies were off to a wildlife carer after they had a quick vet assessment at the RSPCA to make sure that they were okay.

It is a common occurrence at the RSPCA to receive duckling rescue call outs, especially in for ones stuck down drains! So if you ever hear chirps for help down a drain, call the RSPCA!

Our Rescue Officers attend calls for help 7 days a week for a range of animals – spikey, feathered, slithery and more! If you want to become a part of the team today or help in another volunteer role, check out our positions currently available here.

Sadly, not all wildlife rescues have a happy ending when animals are too sick or too injured to recover from there ordeals, but at least when they are rescued, they don’t suffer a slow death all alone.

Rescue Officer Dani and Inspector Jared rescued a brushtail possum recently that had been stuck in a downpipe on someone’s property. Unfortunately, this poor possum had been stuck for a while and he was too sick to recover. But not every drain or downpipe rescue has a sad outcome, here are a few successful recoveries!