Monday, October 22, 2012

Bonorong

A few months ago, we found a bettong hiding in our chook shed. There was clearly something wrong with him. He wasn't making a great effort to run away, and when he did, he fell over sideways. Oh dear. It didn't look good, but we wanted to get him to someone better qualified to assess him. We tried a couple of local wildlife rescue numbers with no luck, but one of them suggested calling Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary. It's well on the other side of Hobart from us, and it was after hours, so I didn't hold out much hope. However a very helpful and friendly bloke answered the phone and said he would send a text message out to wildlife carers in our area to see if anyone could collect him. A short time later another helpful and friendly bloke named Jonas called back, and I was able to drop off the bettong to him at the end of our road. The poor creature did not survive, but I was grateful that his end was kind.

I've been keen to visit Bonorong for ages so we finally dropped in on the weekend. If you want to see Tasmanian wildlife up close, it's a top spot. We saw a baby wombat, Tasmanian devils, spotted-tailed quolls, eastern quolls and many more. The site has beautiful views back to Hobart and Mount Wellington. And I'm happy that the entry fee goes to a good cause, supporting care and rehabilitation of native animals and helping kind people like Jonas to help our native wildlife.

2 comments:

  1. Bonorong is great. A friend of mine rescued a baby potteroo and nursed it through the 2 hourly feeds until it was growing strong and well. She couldn't keep it and of course worried about putting it back out in the wild so one day we all piled into the car and took him to Bonorong. My friend had already checked that it would be okay and they were very excited to receive him. She was encouraged to visit but like you lives on the wrong side of Hobart to be a regular!
    We often wonder if there are any offspring from this little fellow. We will have to have another visit!

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  2. Bonorong is wonderful. They do great work there. It is a such great place to visit. It's nice to be able to help our wildlife even if the outcome isn't always the best. At least you tried to help the little fella.

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