All Animal Rescuers

All Animal Rescuers Volunteer Animal Rescue Service in Melbourne, Australia. paypal.me/allanimalrescuers

21/06/2026

How did it get into this situation? #2:

I was asked to attend a report a couple of days ago of a currawong seen hanging upside down in a tree. It was assumed it was entangled in twine or rubbish of some kind. Located within a retirement village it was apparently dangling up high in the branches that were hanging over a fence above a walking/bike path.

By the time I got there it was dark and stormy. Rain pelted down as I went into the reception of the retirement village. There I was given a map of the property and directed to where the bird had been spotted. It was suggested that I park on the property but walk outside the boundary and go along the bike track which would give me best access.

Armed with a ladder, carrier, scissors, towel and long hook and wearing a headlamp, I peered down at the now sodden map to work out where to go. When I got to the entrance of the bike path I found it was closed with big temporary fencing all around it. Didn’t take me long to push it back a bit to enable me to squeeze through with my equipment then head up the dark track to where the currawong had been seen.

It was a bit of a trek but with clear directions having been given I soon got to where I believed the bird was. I caught movement and my torch shone on the struggling bird, hanging hopelessly upside down. As I quickly climbed up to it and carfully lifted it to relieve the strain on its leg I could hear its parents calling out in the dark from a nearby tree. They had likely been trying to encourage him to free himself and staying close helpless to be able to do anything.

I soon realised he wasn’t entangled in anything. One of his feet was badly deformed with a condition known as ‘Tassle foot’. The enlarged foot had become caught between two thin branches and when he fell downwards when trying to fly off they had entrapped him between them. Once I lifted him out I could feel he was extremely emaciated and the top of his leg also didn’t look good. He had likely been trapped there for some time. With the bike path closed nobody was going past and it just happened that someone from the retirement village noticed the flapping bird, but it was probably not until he had been there for days.

I took him straight to a carer for assessment knowing he would likely need an emergency vet visit. She confirmed my gut feeling. He had been struggling for so long his leg was just hanging by a thread, almost severed. The pain would have been so immense. She kindly gave him some pain relief for the trip to the emergency vet who I hoped would be able to end his suffering quickly. I called ahead to ensure they weren’t too busy and they assured me they would be able to help him right away.

So what causes Tassel foot which got him in the situation to begin with? Usually poor nutrition often contributed to humans feeding wild birds food such as mince and bread. Yet another reason to please don’t feed wild birds.

20/06/2026

When we attend a rescue of an animal, we always ask ‘How did it get in this situation?’, and try to work out what has happened and what possibly contributed to the animal needing help.

Last week I was contacted about a juvenile brushtail possum. He had been spotted during the daytime in a backyard, not looking quite right. Not only because he was out during the daylight, but because of his appearance.

When I arrived I got a bit of a shock. It took me a moment to actually be sure he was a brushtail possum. He was easy to catch as had come down out of the tree he was in just before I arrived and was curled up in a ball on the ground.

His fur was patchy and he was covered in fluid which at first I thought may be some sort of toxin. But one sniff made me realise was pus weeping from his skin.

The poor thing had some sort of dermatitis and from constant scratching from the itch his skin had become infected.

Knowing this was treatable I took the young possum straight to an experienced wildlife carer for assessment and to hopefully commence the long term care he would need.

Diagnosing him with Exudative Dermatitis which is caused by stress she examined him carefully giving him medication to reduce the itching as she did. Very unusual for one so young to be experiencing this level of stress to cause such a severe reaction, she quickly picked up something wasn’t quite right. A visit to the vet confirmed her suspicions. The poor young possum had been injured some time prior by what was presumed to being a collision with a car. He was somehow surviving with a broken pelvis and shoulder, the stress of the pain had then brought on the dermatitis. What a horrible short life this little one had had. The pain would have been extreme. They did the kindest thing they could and the little one is now no longer in pain.

12/06/2026

Every Life Matters #1

I was alerted to a nest containing two very young baby pigeons. Parents hadn’t been seen attending the nest for some time and there was a concern they had been abandoned.

Upon checking the little ones I found that one had sadly passed away. The surviving one was alert and had food in its crop (though it wasn’t full), so had been fed by a parent at some point in the last 24 hours.

The nest was sheltered from the elements so I decided to give the parents a chance to return as always best for babies to be raised by their own wherever possible.

I monitored the nest for another couple of hours and finally when I checked again finding the remaining baby getting cold and seeming to fade I removed him gently warming him up against my body and taking him into care.

Once back at the shelter I placed him into a heated enclosure and before long he started to perk up again and start to call out for food.

Looks like I am now his foster mother so he will need a name. Welcome any suggestions!

We were honoured to be able to attend this event last weekend helping raise funds for the amazing team at Vets for Compa...
10/06/2026

We were honoured to be able to attend this event last weekend helping raise funds for the amazing team at Vets for Compassion.

They truly are inspirational going above and beyond to help ALL animals. A cause close to the heart of all of us in the room and beyond.

I am sorry baby silver gull that we all let you down. Legislation came out in 2021 to protect wildlife from getting enta...
05/06/2026

I am sorry baby silver gull that we all let you down.

Legislation came out in 2021 to protect wildlife from getting entangled in netting placed on fruit trees, stating that the aperture (size of the holes) should be no larger than 5mm x 5mm - so too small for them to become caught.

However there was a loophole. It only applied to bird netting placed on actual fruit trees. A while ago a large commercial property located at Docklands in Melbourne placed bird netting all over its balconies which did not comply to the recommended size to ensure wildlife didn’t become entangled. The netting they used had much larger holes and since going up has trapped many birds, quite a few that have died. Despite complaints and an ongoing investigation by DEECA unfortunately due to the loophole, they haven’t done anything illegal.

Yesterday a staff member working in the building noticed a baby seagull caught in the netting with its parents loudly calling out to it flying around it trying to encourage it to free itself as it desperately thrashed about.

She asked her management if she could go and free it as employees had already been told due to safety concerns they were not to, and was told a firm no. She then spoke to the building management to see if they could help and also was told that they couldn’t. So she called wildlife rescue. They tried all afternoon to find an available rescuer. The weather was horrific, stormy, rain and wind and unfortunately none of the volunteer rescuers were available.

Later that night with less than an hour before the commercial building was shut I received a call asking for help. I would not have been able to make it before they closed so we made plans for me to attend first thing the next morning.

Sadly when I arrived the next morning, the baby was dead, still entangled in the netting with its parents nearby.

He was let down by us all. We need to try to amend the legislation to cover ALL bird netting, not just that placed over fruit trees.

03/06/2026

I was asked to attend a building site earlier this week where a tawny frogmouth had been reported to have been wandering around the top floor of the construction not flying away and with what appeared to be a head injury.

The workers had left for the day but I had been given permission to enter the site to rescue the bird.

When I arrived I climbed a ladder to the top floor and scanned around soon spotting the tawny sitting on one of the beams near the ground. On approach the head injury became very obvious. On closer inspection it appeared that one of its eyes had actually been pecked out with dried blood matting its feathers. Likely attacked by a territorial bird. Poor thing was weak as had not been able to hunt for food and unable to fly. Would also likely have been in quite a bit of discomfort.

I carefully scooped it up into my carrier and took straight to a nearby vet.

Sadly but as expected they did the kindest thing and euthanised him. At least he didn’t die a slow death from starvation and infection if not sooner by a predator.

29/05/2026

I had an urgent call recently. A woman had been at a local park then driven home only to come out to her garage later that day to hear a strange noise coming from her car. On inspection she realised that there was a noisy miner bird trapped behind the grill that was unable it appeared to get itself out. It was assumed it had got into her car whilst she was at the park.

She phoned her local mobile Roadside Assistance who came out but gave up after attempting to free the bird saying it was too difficult as they didn’t have the appropriate tools and would need a specialist mechanic for her type of luxury vehicle.

There was an urgency now as the woman needed to leave in around an hour to go pick up her daughter and didn’t want to risk the life of the poor little bird by driving with it still trapped. It may die a horrible death.

So she called for a wildlife rescuer and I attended along with a colleague of mine.

Armed with screw drivers and a crow bar the woman became a little nervous voicing her concerns that we may damage her car, so we put the tools down. The bird had managed to get itself in, so it was a matter of working out where and somehow getting it back out the same way.

After crawling underneath and opening the bonnet to look down we soon saw that the car was very well sealed and there was no way we were going to be getting it out any other way than the front through the grill. The largest gap was at the bottom though it didn’t seem big enough for the bird. It must have squeezed in sideways and now in its panicked state couldn’t work out how to squeeze back out in exactly the same angle. We would have to help it.

On our first attempt the miner managed to jump up to the top of the grill which was in two sections. We would need to get it back to the bottom section if we were to have any chance of helping it.

Finally thank goodness it jumped back down to the bottom half and after couple of goes with my finger tips through the bottom of the grill, I was able to grasp the bird in one hand.

He was not happy clearly thinking I meant him harm, so struggled and screeched loudly in protest.

I gently closed my finger around his body to contain him feeling to ensure his wings were close to his body and not flapping around then started to try to ease him out at various angles.

The gap just seemed too small. The bird didn’t seem to fit and I was worried about injuring it and breaking bones if I tried to force it through.

After several attempts of pulling it out moving my hand up and down to see if any sections were slightly wider at one point accidentally letting the bird slip out of my fingers but luckily catching it again, suddenly I could feel my hand come out at the correct angle with the bird safely inside. He was free and after an initial check over he appeared to be injury free!

We had freed him in time for the woman to be able to go pick up her daughter! She was very grateful not just because of this, but because she didn’t want it to be injured or worse.

We made a note of the park where it was believed he had climbed onboard, and after an overnight stay and check with a carer, we were thrilled to be able to release him back there the next day.

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