Hooray! We've finally seen some rain with the promise of more on the way. I think everyone throughout the Yarra Valley is breathing a communal sigh of relief. As a result we have seen quite a few of our emergency boarders walking out the door, all very happy to be reunited with their loved ones.

As part of our relief work we have been receiving several local wildlife cases, giving them immediate first aid, if needed we make sure they get to specialist wild life support, or facilitate safe release. One such case is Kidney the Echidna, after getting a thorough check up from our Veterinarian, he was been given a clean bill of health. Kidney was in perfect shape and there was no need to keep him any longer than he needed to be. So two of our staff members released him back to the same area he was originally picked up from.

On the subject of wildlife we have had quite a few questions and queries about what people can do to help to support the wildlife in their local area.
Questions like:
Should I be feeding my local wildlife?
If I do, what should I feed them and how often?

So we thought we would give you the dos and don'ts of feeding wildlife in a post disaster phase. This information was kindly provided to us by the Senior Veterinarian from the Australian Wildlife Health Centre. There are a few simple but important rules you need to be aware of.

• It is vital that you only put feed out on private land and you must have the land owners consent to do so.
• Only feed in general gazing or pastoral areas not bush, to reduce the chance of weed invasion.
• Only feed for the short term a maximum of a couple of months.
• Vary the locations and times of feeding so as not to make animals' dependant on your hand out. This also lessens the likelihood of predatory animals getting familiar with locations and feeding times.
• Varying feeding locations also helps to prevent an overload of coccidian and salmonella from eating and defecating in the same place repeatedly.
• If you must feed them in the same area make sure you keep the area as clean as possible and rake or sweep up left over scraps weekly.
• Make sure that the area selected for feeding stations are not near anything that will put them in danger, such as close to road. Choose quiet secluded areas away from domestic animals and people.
• Vegetables are fine but don't feed fruit as this may cause digestive problems because of the types of sugars they contain.
• The best rule to follow is to stick to a very simple diet such as grass hay, nothing too rich like Lucerne or livestock pellets; it's not what they are used to. 
• But the most important thing you can supply is water, we can all survive on a small amount of food but nothing can survive without water.

By choosing to supplement your local wildlife you can help get them through this difficult time, but it also allows you to keep an eye on their general condition. You can watch for symptoms such as loosing weight, restrictions or changes in movement and general well being. If you do notice any deterioration then you need to ask for help we can help put you in touch with some one who can advise if they are fine or should be taken into care.