WIRES Grant Already Making a Difference for South Australia's Wildlife

At Southern Koala and Echidna Rescue (SKER), every piece of equipment in our wildlife veterinary centre has the potential to save lives.

Earlier this year, SKER was fortunate to receive funding through the WIRES National Grants Program to enhance our diagnostic and intensive care capabilities. We are excited to share that the first stage of this project has already been successfully delivered, with the purchase and installation of a new Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for our wildlife hospital.

The new ICU was purchased under budget, allowing us to explore options for an even more capable endoscope system as the next stage of the project progresses.

Since arriving at SKER, the ICU has quickly become one of the busiest pieces of equipment in our clinic.

One patient to benefit from the new ICU was a tiny pinky kangaroo joey. Arriving at our veterinary centre vulnerable, dehydrated and requiring urgent care, the joey was first stabilised by our veterinary team before being transferred to an experienced long-term kangaroo carer. The ICU provided a warm, quiet and carefully controlled environment where the joey could receive intensive monitoring and supportive care during those critical first hours.

For wildlife patients, those first few hours can mean the difference between life and death.

Wildlife admitted to SKER often arrive suffering from shock, trauma, dehydration, illness or exposure to the elements. Many are unable to regulate their own body temperature, making intensive care support essential. The ICU allows our team to provide oxygen therapy, precise temperature control, intensive monitoring and specialised nursing care while minimising stress.

The versatility of the unit has already proven invaluable. Patients have ranged from tiny honeyeaters and orphaned possums to koala joeys, debilitated waterbirds such as cormorants, and injured birds of prey including Brown Goshawks and Peregrine Falcons.

Quite simply, ICUs save lives.

The ability to provide this level of care strengthens SKER's role as South Australia's only dedicated full-time wildlife veterinary clinic and improves outcomes for the hundreds of native animals that pass through our doors each year.

We would like to extend our sincere thanks to WIRES for their support. Their investment is already helping us provide higher standards of veterinary care and giving more native wildlife a second chance at life in the wild.

We look forward to sharing further updates as we progress the next stage of the project and bring advanced endoscopy capabilities to South Australia's wildlife sector.