Friday’s Footprints: Wings Wildlife Park

Not far from us we have a really great privately owned wildlife park called ‘Wings Wildlife Park’ They rescue and rehabilitate native animals – as well as release if possible, or take lifelong care of the animals that cannot be released for whatever reason.

They also hand rear a number of animals so visitors can get up close, learn and even have a pat of some of the babies.

Note for Non-Australians … Tasmanian Devils do not spin. 😀

Devils are a carnivorous marsupial – more of a scavenger than a hunter. A powerful bite force lets them crunch through all parts of a carcass

They really are very feisty at feeding time

Our Devil population is endangered. The usual interference by humans – Habitat reductions and they had a bounty on their heads until 1941 when they were declared a protected species.  One of the biggest threats today is the facial tumor. A cancer that spreads through bites and wounds – and as you can see by their table manners, a disease like this is devastating.

They actually remind me of the greedy chickens (just with more teeth) the way they grab and snatch food and run off with it, only to be chased and have someone else snatch the goodies back.

Babies:

A female is pregnant for about 21 days and will give birth to about 20-40 babies – all the size of a grain of rice!!!

However – the mother only has four teats, so its a race for survival as the first four devils to latch on win the prize at a go at life.

They stay in the pouch for about 4 months.

A baby Devil is called an Imp or Joey. They mature at around 2 years and will live for about 5 – longer if conditions are good.

The staff are the ones that raise orphaned devils – in their own homes alongside the cats, dogs and kids! I had a laugh during one visit as a keeper jumped in the pen before her information session started so she could have a cuddle with a former ward. They have to be released into an enclosure with other similar aged devils once they reach maturity. They can get a little aggressive at that point in their life.

She had managed to turn our most fearsome icon into a woose! Basically an overgrown house-cat (that can bite through steel) lol (ok, just kidding about the steel bit)

They have awesome expressions and I find them really appealing.

Also at the park you can get a bag of food or two and go into the kangaroo enclosure and get up close, feed and pat the kangaroos and wallabies.

This is a great place to take our international guests especially

Jeff showed us how to relax a kangaroo – step one:

Step two:

We have been lucky at times to get a glimpse of the joeys in their Mum’s pouches

There are also a couple of koala’s that you can go in and see and even have a pat of.

The keepers come in and tell you a bit about how they look after the koalas and also bring out a baby wombat – another little chap that has been hand reared.

And for those non-Australians – our swans are black! (and from experience – slightly cranky!)

They also have a freaky emu. OK – they are cool birds, but they look so prehistoric they freak me out a little!

There are plenty of other birds and animals at this park, but I hope you have enjoyed the highlights!

Cheers!