My friend Paul Martin has been rescuing injured, native animals since he was a teenager. He is on call to rescue wildife in Crescent Head and the surrounding Mid North Coast area. I had the opportunity to meet a gannet which Paul rescued, and witness its transformation from a weak and vulnerable animal, to a rehabilitated sea bird, ready to take on the world again. I captured these photographs at my favourite local beach, Racecourse Beach, where Paul read the winds and picked the right time to release this little guy.
Paul wrote the article below about the animal rescue. Today I am happy to see the article land on the front cover of both the Port Macquarie Independent and the Mid Coast Courier. It’s always great to see a good news story being shared.
Gannet returns to the wild
Gannets are often seen diving spectacularly for bait fish off local beaches. This young one, however, was found by Jess Tout on the Crescent Head Back Beach on 14/4/15. It tried to go into the water but was not able to navigate the rough surf, and sat back down on the beach. Jess, who lives locally and is keen to get involved in native animal rescue, recognised that this is not normal behaviour for a sea bird and called FAWNA for help. Paul Martin responded to the call, and together with neighbours Booyong & Frankie Dykshorn, picked the bird up and gave it a quiet space and a feed for two days before releasing him back into the wild. “To help him gain his strength back, I fed him pilchards and squid, and I have plenty of scratches to prove it!” said Paul.
A second gannet came in from Big Hill on the same night, but was in a more serious condition, and died the following day. “It is so difficult to tell what is wrong with sea birds when we find them. Often they will have much bigger problems that aren’t obvious,” said Paul. “Fishing hooks and fishing line entanglement are common causes of sea bird injury, so if you fish, please take your line and hooks home when your finished fishing.”
If anyone finds wildlife needing help, please call FAWNA on 6581 4141. FAWNA is a volunteer organisation which rescues and rehabilitates wildlife. If you are interested in becoming a wildlife carer, there will be a new member induction training course on 20th June, come and learn all about our wildlife and how to rehabilitate them.
