Kangaroo Island: RSPCA scales back wildlife feeding amid bush recovery following fires
A feeding program for Kangaroo Island wildlife is being scaled back as the bush begins to recover, while a local wildlife park continues to hand-raise about 30 koala joeys.
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They came out in force to help save wildlife struggling to survive after the horrendous bushfires that ravaged one of the conservation jewels in South Australia’s crown.
Now, the RSPCA’s volunteers are turning their efforts towards coaxing animals to fend for themselves and search for their own food.
About 50 volunteers have been stocking feeding stations with foods such as birdseed, carrots and sweet corn, along with water.
RSPCA SA field operations manager Melanie Lambert said there were signs that animals were beginning to find their own food as the land began to recover.
“In areas where the habitat is starting to grow back, we are very slowly reducing the amount of feed we are giving them, so that they will have to source food from elsewhere,” Ms Lambert said.
“It’s tough, but we have to be a bit mean to be kind – we don’t want animals to rely long-term on the supplementary feed we’re providing.
“There is still a lot of ash covering the ground in some areas, and it will be when Kangaroo Island finally receives a decent amount of rain that we will see the habitat start to recover much more quickly.”
The RSPCA set up 83 feeding stations across parts of the island’s north, south and west, to help animals at risk of starvation, including kangaroos, goannas and wallabies.
In response to COVID-19, the organisation now requires volunteers to travel in cars by themselves – unless they are members of the same family – and has two vehicles attend each site for safety reasons.
Meantime, Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park has released into the wild about 200 of the 600 koalas it took on during the crisis.
It is still looking after one adult and hand-raising about 30 orphaned joeys, but the remaining animals perished or were euthanased.
Although the Parndana-based tourist attraction is closed, owner Sam Mitchell says staff are still busy looking after bushfire casualties because other helpers, such as those from Australia Zoo, were forced to head home amid the pandemic.
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“We’re (also) still raising a number of orphaned kangaroos and possums and we’ve released 16 echidnas,” he says.
Much of the habitat on the western end of Kangaroo Island was obliterated by the fire, but the green shoots are slowly coming back.
Mr Mitchell has made arrangements with local landowners to plant extra trees on their properties, to help reinstate lost habitat.