We are a charity run by volunteers dedicated to the veterinary care of all Australian wildlife All our staff at the wildlife hospital are volunteers.
Southern Cross Wildlife Care was established by veterinary surgeon Dr Howard Ralph & his wife, Glenda Ralph. Dr Ralph has been voluntarily providing a veterinary service for wildlife in NSW for over 30 years. We provide a high quality veterinary service for all species of Australia wildlife. We also have extensive experience in disaster response for wildlife such as during bushfires, floods, and cyclones.
Wildlife carers, veterinarians, veterinary nurses - If you're anywhere near the Qld Sunshine Coast, perhaps you would like to join us for wildlife care training with one of Australia's most experienced & skilled wildlife veterinary surgeons, the fabulous Dr Howard Ralph: Sat Aug 10 Initial Assessment & Management of Wildlife then Sun Aug 11 Diarrhoea & Coccidia. Hosted by Wilvos & Tree of Compassion.
Happy Volunteer Week! We would like to take a moment to express our heartfelt thanks to all our volunteers. Unlike some wildlife hospitals, everyone at Southern Cross Wildlife Hospital is a volunteer, including our professional staff.
The hard work, commitment and compassion of all our volunteers has made a significant impact on the lives of countless wild animals. This also includes all the volunteer wildlife carers who bring animals to us for treatment. It's people like you who make our community a compassionate & better place for wildlife in need.
This week is about recognising & appreciating the contributions of volunteers. Let's continue to work together to make a positive impact and create lasting change for the wildlife we care so deeply about.
This gorgeous Black Swan, Yafa, was brought to the hospital by a kind lady as Yafa was suffering from a fishing hook lodged in her foot causing her pain & damage. Here our veterinary nurse, Tania, calms Yafa (who enjoys being stroked on her head) whilst Dr Ralph examines her injury.
We are honoured that our very own Dr Howard Ralph has been shortlisted for this prestigious award. Thank you, Animal Justice Foundation! 🙏🙏🙏🦘💕
Happy year of the dragon! Even dragons sometimes need veterinary help 💕
What a handsome creature!
Useful manuals reviewed by Dr Howard Ralph for any wildlife carers library
Happy World Animal Day from all of us at the Southern Cross Wildlife Hospital team
Hoping we'll see some of you live or online for the Australian Wildlife Rehabiltiation Conference which kicks off in Perth tomorrow. Some of out team - Dr Ralph, Tania Duratovic & Marie Wynan will be there presenting.
Home of the Australian Wildlife Rehabilitation Conference
Please join us in Sydney this Sunday 2 April to hear Dr Ralph & others speak as we remember all those animals who suffered in the 2019/20 bushfires.
Department Of Animals | Stories from the guerrilla war against the sixth mass extinction
Some people have asked why we haven’t posted for a long time. Be reassured our team is still here working long hours to help all creatures great and small. Here is a little possum from today with serious burns. She is now doing well after treatment and ongoing pain relief.
Two little friends coming to the hospital for treatment, one who was itching to lick his foot (the eastern grey kangaroo) as his bandage had just come off.
We regularly see wildlife suffering from fractures that other veterinary facilities either say cannot be treated or that the treatment is very complicated. We find that often this is not the case. This little cutie wallaby is an example. She came to us a few days ago, shortly after her mother was hit by a car and tragically killed but had been to another veterinary clinic first. The joey presented with a fractured calcaneus. This is an injury we regularly see and as such, have treated countless animals with this (under a general aneasthetic). This is not a complicated procedure nor should it be a death sentence. Dr Ralph was able to realign her bones and provided her with appropriate pain relief. She has gone back to her carer with a splint for the time being until we review her progress in a fortnight. There is no reason that this little girl will not quickly recover and go on to be released and live a full life.
Happy World Snake Day! These fascinating creatures with their highly developed senses of sight, taste, hearing and touch deserve our respect and protection just like any other animal. Often misunderstood and feared, snakes are generally shy creatures who prefer to retreat when approached. Here at the Southern Cross Wildlife Hospital we treat many species of snake who are unfortunate to be injured or unwell. We will always help where we can.
We've had a busy few days seeing patients from near and far whilst we had a safe window of opportunity before heavy rain & flooding threatened to cut us off. Unfortunately, our road to the hospital is badly damaged & we currently don’t have the funds to do the repairs. Hopefully the land will dry out soon & we can reassess our options. If you would like to help us, please donate. It is only because of peoples kind donations & our staff of volunteers that we can provide our life saving service for wildlife carers & wildlife https://www.southerncrosswildlifecare.org.au/donate/
Happy Mother's Day to all mothers. fathers, carers of all species! You/we all play an important role in caring for and nurturing others. Big hugs to everyone (or kangaroo licks!)
Today is World Wildlife Day (although for us, EVERY day is wildlife day!!)
The planet’s forests are home to some 80 per cent of all terrestrial wild species. They help regulate the climate and support the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people.
‘What a difference an operation makes’.
Pebbles had surgery to correct her leg deformity and is expected to make a full recovery. Sadly, these types of leg deformities are not uncommon. Pebbles is just one example of the many patients treated every week at the Southern Cross Wildlife Hospital.
Pebbles was found to have a deformity of her leg as a result of a fracture sometime ago.
See the before and after x-ray images.
‘What a Difference an Operation Makes’
This was certainly the case for Pebbles a 3kg joey
found alone in a paddock.
The killing of thousands of kangaroos in NSW will be featured in tonight's episode of the 7.30 Report on the ABC.
The NSW government is under pressure to urgently review its kangaroo culling and harvesting program after a parliamentary committee voices "grave concerns" about how the animals are monitored.
Busy working on wildlife, like kangaroos of all sizes, on World Kangaroo Day yesterday. Will you help us continue to protect our precious wildlife by donating to support our life saving work? https://www.southerncrosswildlifecare.org.au/donate/
A beautiful day begins
How busy ‘everyone’ has been during the night spinning their delicate webs —the beauty to be revealed only by the morning mist.
There's still time for you to register & log in to tomorrow's opening of the Australian Wildlife Rehabilitation Conference where our very own Dr Howard Ralph will be giving the opening key note speech. Tune in!
Meet our Speakers- Dr. Howard Ralph OAM
Dr Ralph is a veterinary surgeon, anaesthetist and doctor of medicine with qualifications in
wildlife medicine and clinical forensics. He also holds qualifications in education and fine arts.
For over 40 years Dr Ralph has practiced medicine, in humans and animals. He has received
numerous awards for his work with wildlife including NSW Senior Volunteer Award 2013 and
Sydney University Veterinary Science School Alumni Award in 2017. He has also featured in
many publications and media, including the cover story the March 2017 issue of Vet Practice
Magazine and on the ABC’s “Australia Story” in October 2017. In January 2019, Dr Ralph
received the Order of Australia Medal for his work on Australia wildlife.
Dr Ralph teaches various aspects of wildlife treatment and care in a variety of species around
Australia. He has also given training on animal treatment and care overseas such as in
Indonesia and Nepal. Dr Ralph has attended, in his capacity as a veterinary surgeon, several
disasters such as oil spills, floods, cyclones and bushfires. He also assists in the treatment of
animals for Tree of Compassion in Nepal.
Together with his wife, Glenda, he established Southern Cross Wildlife Care which includes a
purpose built wildlife hospital in the NSW southern tablelands and provides treatment for
wildlife all over the region and beyond. Dr Ralph treats hundreds of patients every year from
kangaroos, wombats, koalas, echidnas, and birds, to snakes, turtles, and frogs.
The Australian Wildlife Rehabilitation Conference is going ahead this year but online. Please join in & listen to several of our team who will be presenting at this conference.
Meet our Speakers !!
Glenda Ralph -
Glenda is a registered nurse, physiotherapist, qualified veterinary nurse, and a wildlife carer
specialising in intensive care patients. She is also an accredited workplace training and
assessor, accredited lymphoedema therapist, and holds a diploma in first line emergency care.
Glenda also sits on two animal ethics committees that manage wildlife research projects.
Glenda has worked side by side with her husband, Dr Howard Ralph, treating and caring for
many species of wildlife – mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians – for over 20 years. Glenda
co-founded the veterinary charity, Southern Cross Wildlife Care, with Dr Ralph. She is the
hospital manager and senior veterinary nurse. The wildlife hospital sees hundreds of patients
every year and Glenda is the first point of contact for wildlife carers and veterinarians across
Australia seeking assistance. Glenda not only assists in the treatment of patients and in
surgery, but also looks after patients who are hospitalised.
Thank you Sue & all at Steve's Ability for making these large pouches for us. As you can see from the photos, they are well used. In these photos the joey is keeping warm & comfortable in the bag whilst recovering from a general anaesthetic. We get many patients this size and are therefore always in need of these 80cm-1m pouches so very much appreciate them. Thank you again!
Another kangaroo joey requiring complex orthopaedic surgery. Fortunately he’s in expert hands here with Dr Howard Ralph (assisted by Glenda & Tania)
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Meet little Sunshine. Some of you may have already seen him in the news on the dashboard of a fire truck in Nerriga. Sunshine's mother was killed in the fire. She would have done all she could to protect him but sadly perished doing so. But it did work. No doubt the protection of his desperate mother resulted in him not being burnt. Mother gone, habitat lost, smoke everywhere, a dehydrated & very thin little Sunshine wandered out of the forest on his own, into the path of firefighters. Because of the trauma, all the handling & delay in getting to an appropriate veterinary attention, he is very stressed & now has impaired kidney function. But we hope to reverse this. He has been in intensive care since he arrived at the Southern Cross Wildlife Care clinic on Monday & would have died had we not been there to intervene. Far from the happy story that has appeared in the media, Sunshine still has a long way to go but we will be there with him all the way. If you would like to help Sunshine and other wildlife like him, please donate via our webpage or Go Fund Me page. https://au.gofundme.com/f/wildlife-need-urgent-help-from-drought-amp-fire To read about Sunshine's rescue: https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/rescued-koala-brings-ray-of-sunshine-after-nightmare-on-fire-ground-20200105-p53p1i.html
The Beauty and Sadness of early Morning. Dew encrusted spider webs. Tragic loss of life. Please all take care on our roads especially this long weekend. If assisting to remove wildlife off the road.. SAFETY first... Assistance (obtain) if needed from a Wildlife group and or other authorities in the area. Respectful removal of injuried or dead wildlife from the road. Check pouch if appropriate.
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