‘My bath filled with water… and three turtles!’: Vets reveal unique cyclone experiences

Dr Bree Talbot’s home has become a makeshift triage for wildlife, including marine turtles, an eastern grey kangaroo, birds and flying foxes, following ex-cyclone Albert.

Emily Kowal

@kowalemily

less than 2 min read

March 11, 2025 - 12:22AM

NSW

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Dr Bree Talbot filled her bathtub before ex-cyclone Alfred — with water and three baby turtles.

She grabbed torches, not for reading or board games, but for surgery on flying foxes. Towels didn’t dry hands; they warmed shivering kangaroos.

While the rest of northern NSW bunkered down, the vet’s home became a makeshift triage room, the laundry used to heal animals injured in the wild weather.

“I had no power so I was using torches to do everything and I had turned my laundry into a makeshift triage room” she said.

“I had three marine turtles, an eastern grey kangaroo, three birds and flying foxes. I was trying to help as many as I could while staying safe … but I had quite a fair few, with no power … it was an interesting time,” she laughed.

Veterinarian Bree Talbot examines an X-ray of a Flying Fox trapped in barbed wire. Picture: Rohan Kelly

Associate Veterinarian Dr Chantal Whitten operates on a Flying Fox that was trapped in barbed wire. Picture: Rohan Kelly

Today, she and her colleagues are finally back inside a proper clinic, with Byron Bay Wildlife Hospital reopening their doors on Sunday evening.

“We closed the hospital just before the cyclone hit so in that time it was really difficult for carers to access veterinary care. I had a lot of animals coming to my house to try and get some triage,” she said.

The Daily Telegraph 9.3.2025 Associate Veterinarian Dr Chantal Whitten operates on a Flying Fox that was trapped in barbed wire. Byron Bay Wildlife Hospital is back open and treating Australian Wildlife that have been rescued in the floods after Cyclone Alfred. Picture: Rohan Kelly

In the coming weeks, Ms Talbot and her team will deal with a growing influx of injured animals, emerging from the remnants of ex-cyclone Alfred.

On Monday, they worked on a flying fox, tangled in barbed wire during wild weather, an eastern kangaroo, swept hundreds of kilometres down to Byron in raging waters, and a baby Ibis thrown out of its nest during the wind.

“We have had about seven or eight animals come in this morning but I do know we have a lot more waiting to come in,”

“As the flood waters recede we are going to see a lot more wildlife coming in. With floods, It’s the days, weeks, months later that we see animals coming out displaced, hungry, injured, it’s only the beginning now,” Dr Talbot said.