Save Our Wildlife Foundation Inc.

Member Update

Hi <<First Name>>,

Happy New Year! I hope you had some time off over the festive season and are feeling refreshed. I realised that I needed some down time and so it’s been a while since our last member update early December. A lot has been going on in the background preparing for this year and many of you have continued to cover phone and ambulance shifts, rescue and care for wildlife – thank you all!!

Our main focus has been our Wildlife Training program which our new Chairperson Sophie is leading this year. With so much to learn before you take on orphaned, sick and injured wildlife, we have created a new mode of delivery this year that will break down the training into 3 components to keep it interesting and give time to absorb all the learnings, while gathering equipment and enclosures required. All training dates are now on the SOWFI website.

The first component is an online 30-minute Q&A Introduction to SOWFI webinar presented by the Membership Team – this will answer all those questions about membership benefits, process and cover off on our values and organisational structure. Read more here.

The second component is a Field Practical where you will get hands-on experience in a field setting by our expert trainers.

The third and final component is a 2-hour online webinar that will cover all the other information required to take a creche of stabilised possums (minimum weights 115g Ringtails 250g Brushtails), baby birds or older injured animals/birds requiring rehabilitation. An online knowledge check will help ensure critical knowledge and skills have been achieved.

We have also costed our training differently this year to encourage SOWFI membership. Last year a lot of effort was put into training with very few new wildlife carers joining us. Courses are now bundled with membership so that people can choose to become active by letting the Membership Team know and will then be assigned a District Coordinator to finish induction. Alternately they will be an inactive 'Friend of SOWFI' making a valuable donation to the care of our wildlife.

For our wildlife!

Warm regards,
Marian

Wildlife Training

Introduction to Bird Care: 25th February
This practical course by Wildlife Welfare Organisation (WWO) followed by an online live webinar is ideal for carers interested in upskilling their knowledge on the rehabilitation of birds. Courses are free to prior attendees.

Register Here

Wildlife Rescue 101 Practical: 02 March
This practical course by is perfect for refreshing or upskilling your rescue techniques. This course is also for people interested in volunteering in the wildlife ambulance. Courses free to prior attendees.

Register Here

Introduction to Possum Care: 23rd March
We are excited to offer this brand new course for 2024 which includes a field practical followed by an online live webinar by our team of trainers and species specialists. Courses are free to prior attendees.

Register Here

Introduction to Duckling Care: 4th May
Leonie has had many years of experience and is extremely knowledgeable in the rescue and rehabilitation of ducklings. Rehabilitating ducklings is a great way to start as a wildlife carer. Course is free to prior attendees.

Register Here

Member Refresher and Upskill Training

As you know we are keen for our members to refresh their training (like you do with first aid) and so we offer free refreshers for any course you have previously paid for. When booking into a course, you have already done previously, please use discount code (PRIOR ATTENDEE) to access it for free.

As our courses are now bundled with membership, if you want to upskill by doing one of our courses you haven’t already done, use the SOWFI volunteer price on the Humanitix site. As a benefit of SOWFI membership we are again offering the Dr. Anne Fowler courses to SOWFI members at a discount price of $45. We recommend these as an Advanced Course for our carers.

When booking into an Anne Fowler course, please use discount code (VOLUNTEER DISCOUNT) to receive $30 discount. These codes will be available in the member section of the website for you to access in future.

Positions Vacant

Please visit our positions vacant page on the website to see where we need extra hands. We are currently looking for some assistance from people with skills in the following areas:

• Wildlife Ambulance drivers/ co-drivers
• Roster co-ordinator for ambulance crew
• Box installation team
• Membership administrator

If you have some extra hours and experience, please contact Anastasia Conway to find out more: membership@saveourwildlife.org.au

Animal Currently in Care Report

Please find the linked report for Animal Currently in Care last updated on 24/01/2024. If any animal rescue record updates are required, please enter them by clicking on the link in the email you received when you entered the animal record; or alternatively, contact a district co-ordinator with the outcome details and we will do the updates for you.

Salesforce Reports

Attention Wildlife Carers

One of the great benefits of being a SOWFI wildlife carer is having a Wildlife Ambulance that can transfer animals or birds to you. This is subject to other Critical Alerts which take precedence but, in most cases, the ambulance crew can accommodate your request.

How does this happen?
If you see something on xMatters that you have capacity to take into care, but you need transport, please accept the alert and call the phone team on (08) 7120 6610 and request transport. They will take relevant details and create a new alert the ambulance crew will respond to.

To maximise efficiency of the ambulance we have an operational area that is 55km from Adelaide CBD. If you live further out, we may arrange a meet point for example Gawler (North), Callington or Strathalbyn (East), Aldinga or McLaren Vale (South).

Diary Markers and Events

SOWFI Volunteer Week Picnic: Saturday 25th May
Let's celebrate our efforts during Volunteer Week and get together at our annual picnic in Belair. Please bring your family, enjoy a meal, activities, and Years of Service award presentations.

Happy Valley Harvest Site Planting: Sunday 23rd June
The Onkaparinga Council have approved a site in Dawson Avenue Reserve, Happy Valley! This a great news for our Southern carers who will have the opportunity harvest from this site in the next 12 months or so.

SOWFI Spring Fling and AGM: Saturday 10th August
Mark this date in your diary - if you haven't been it's a morning of interesting discussions, program solving and your chance to get involved in some decision making to solve gaps or issues the organisation faces.

Walk4Wildlife Challenge: 12th-21st August
Help us help them - participants commit to raising funds for Save Our Wildlife Foundation Inc. by walking, running, cycling or wheeling 24kms. Choose to smash the challenge in one day, over a weekend or 10-days. Will you join us?

Wildlife Volunteers Personal Safety Reminder

We want to keep all our volunteers safe so please remember:

• Get a regular Tetanus vaccine booster

• Wear your hi-vis vest when on a rescue or collecting browse
• Utilize our Wildlife Box Installation Team rather than put up your own boxes
• Do not park on the side of a Highway or Freeway without calling Traffic Management to slow traffic 1800 018 313

Reminder for Feed and Merchandise Orders

Set dates for feed and merchandise orders can be found on the volunteers' section of the website. Stock will also be ordered then for anyone who has redeemed stock using subsidy points.

Subsidised stock is only valid from the 'Volunteer Subsidy Program Shop' and other feed and merchandise orders will require you to have transferred money to the SOWFI bank account before your order may be processed.

Please note that prices may change bi-monthly, so pricelists will be removed and updated to reflect these changes.

Orders: 21 Feb | 21 Apr | 21 Jun | 21 Aug | 21 Oct | 15 Dec

Your mental health and wellbeing are important, and we acknowledge that what you do is not always sunshine and roses. You will see some things that are confronting and upsetting, and you will lose animals. We strongly encourage supporting each other through chatting, catching up, and sharing concerns as well as happy stories. However, sometimes it is also important to talk to someone who is trained to help people through challenging experiences.

WildTalk has been set up to help people working with
Australian wildlife in a volunteer or paid capacity.

It is designed to provide an assistance program to all rescuers, carers, veterinary professionals and researchers through times of illness, injury, or crisis that have an impact on mental health.

Established in 2019, WildTalk recognises a need to support the wildlife rescue and rehabilitation workers in unique ways. As such, our service is provided independently of any wildlife organisation, giving our clients confidence to be open and candid.

Working with wildlife is a rewarding path in life. WildTalk recognises that caring about wildlife comes with a variety of unique challenges and we are here to help.

Wildlife Rescue 24/7 Phone Service (08) 7120 6610

You can also find us on:

How did we go? Click on the link below to let us know of your experience with us. Thank you for your time.

Copyright © 2023 Save Our Wildlife Foundation Inc. All rights reserved.
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Save Our Wildlife Foundation Inc.
PO Box 1158
Mount Barker, South Australia, 5251
Australia

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