Zoos Victoria is at the forefront of conservation by rescuing and rehabilitating wildlife. Though many of us have many preconceived notions about zoos, it’s more than just a place for a fun excursion where you watch the meerkats turn their heads and the lions fight over a great piece of steak.
But organisations like Zoos Victoria are integral to preserving our ecosystem while ensuring the state’s wildlife is plentiful.
Working with Zoos Victoria is a big task as these passionate conservationists endlessly help protect Australia’s most beautiful and rich biodiversity. As Liam Neeson would say, these rescue angels have a “very particular set of skills” in saving wildlife from extinction. And these are just some of the ways they’re doing it right now.
Zoos Victoria is part of a recovery team that’s brought Eastern Barred Bandicoots back from extinction in the wild. This action plan has been around since the early ’90s, with the zoo breeding more than 1200 bandicoots – that’s more than a fair few!
This endangered species now has a fighting chance. Still, aside from breeding, Zoos Victoria is trialling a Guardian Dog Program as another way to protect Eastern Barred Bandicoots.
These miracle dogs are protecting sheep from fox and cat predation, in turn also protecting the resident Bandicoots.
However, a typical day in the life of a Zoos Victoria rescuer isn’t just working to get Eastern Barred Bandicoots off the endangered list. They’re saving marine animals and injured wildlife that’s been greatly impacted by the bushfires too.
The Marine Response Unit, based at Melbourne Zoo, responds to many calls, assisting seals, turtles, dolphins, whales, seabirds and other marine wildlife in trouble in Victorian waters. Zoos Victoria relies on the community to act as their eyes and ears, to report whenever a marine animal is in trouble. Who are you gonna call? Zoos Victoria!
Launched in October 2013, The Marine Response Unit has taken on 1900 cases while intervening in 800 situations, protecting marine life in the face of danger.
Meet the Marine Response Unit team below:
No, I’m not crying, I’ve just been cutting onions.
Also, as we mentioned before, Zoos Victoria is heavily involved with saving animals significantly impacted by bushfires. I’m sure you’ve seen those heartbreaking videos of those Koalas that were devastatingly burned in the 2019/20 bushfires.
Well, Zoos Victoria has made it their mission to provide ongoing support to wildlife, kickstarting the Bushfire Emergency Wildlife Fund, which has raised a whopping $8.8 million.
Zoos Victoria CEO Dr Jenny Gray said the not-for-profit conservation organisation was also preparing for future wildlife emergencies.
“Zoos Victoria proudly contributed to the whole of government and Victoria emergency response effort during the bushfires by deploying our veterinarians and expert staff to the frontline to treat injured wildlife.
“Now, as we move into the recovery phase, we have assessed our capacity and capability to respond to future events and see that we could be better prepared to bring the full force of our organisation to the emergency response effort, in partnership with other expert agencies.”
Even during the fires, Zoos Victoria workers bravely entered bushfire zones to give veterinarian support to injured wildlife. The not-for-profit organisation also helped with the rescue of endangered birds from East Gippsland during the bushfires and helped get them back into the wild.
So there you have it: when Zoos Victoria isn’t working on preventing extinction, they might be helping a distressed seal or operating on an injured koala.
