The NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment National Parks and Wildlife Service (DPIE NPWS), in collaboration with Wildlife Heroes, is working with the wildlife rehabilitation sector to improve standards in volunteer training and outcomes for animals in care. The work is part of the NPWS commitment to implementing its Strategy for the Volunteer Wildlife Rehabilitation Sector in NSW and the NSW Koala Strategy.
NPWS, alongside Wildlife Heroes, are delivering a series of webinars for the volunteer wildlife rehabilitations sector across various topics on wildlife rescue, rehabilitation and wildlife health. The webinars provide an opportunity for volunteer wildlife rehabilitators to connect with professionals in the field and provide an update on developments and current best practice in wildlife health.
The webinars are scheduled from February through to June. Keep an eye on this page for information on upcoming webinars and registration details.
Upcoming webinars:
10th March 2022, 6:00 PM AEST
Brushtail possums: Stressors during rehabilitation and post-release outcomes.
Volunteer wildlife carers rescue and rehabilitate thousands of common brushtail possums every year in Australia. Yet, there is little data available on how this temporary period of captivity affects possum physiology, or of how factors such as release method, personality and habituation affect the likelihood of survival in the wild after release. A team of researchers from the University of Sydney have worked alongside wildlife rehabilitators in the Sydney region to try to answer these questions. In this seminar, Catherine Herbert and Holly Cope will discuss the outcomes of this research, focusing on the response of brushtail possums to potential stressors during rehabilitation and factors affecting short-term survival after release.
