BEACHPORT’S Narelle Marshall decided to care for injured animals after watching her daughter cradle an injured joey more than a decade ago.
Now 13 years later, she is a devoted wildlife rescue carer and manages a self-founded non-profit group Duck-A-Roo Wildlife Rescue.
Narelle regularly takes in orphaned and injured marsupials and her five-acre property is home to over 40 native wildlife, including kangaroos, joeys, wallabies, wombats, and possums.
The latest addition to her ever expanding clan is a four-month-old bare-nosed wombat she named Abbie Dabby Doo.
A local found Abbie after he spotted her deceased mother on the side of the road and decided to pull over and check her pouch.
Narelle stressed the importance of checking pouches to save abandoned joeys from road kill.
“A lot of the time people will run over an animal and will not even take it off the road,” she said.
“It is really important that people understand that if they do come across something there is somewhere they can take them.
“That’s another thing, many people say they have hit an animal, but did not want to check the pouch because they do not know what they would have done with it.
“Most of the time you can see from the outside if there is a joey in there, you do not necessarily have to put your hand in.
“You can simply pull up the pouch and peer inside.”
Narelle added that it was important to keep a joey warm once it had been retrieved from its mother’s pouch.
“If a joey gets cold there is less chance for survival,” she said.
“Keep them warm, wrap it up in a jumper or something and keep it quiet.”
Narelle juggles caring for the animals in between working full-time.
At the moment she is on the clock 24 hours as she feeds Abbie four-hourly, even through the night.
“That’s why I have bags under my eyes,” she said.
“It is like having a child, only it is quiet.”
Narelle said it was the love she has for the animals and what she does that keeps her going and she does not think she will ever stop.
“I just cannot explain the feeling, it is so rewarding,” she said.
“You also cry a lot because you cannot save everything, but I guess the most rewarding thing is what they give back to me because they do – you become like their mother.
“They look at you as if to say ‘I love you mum’.”
She added that while there were a lot of costs involved, she was going to continue caring for the wildlife regardless of whether people help her out or not.
“A lot of people think that I am funded, and that’s not at all true, I get no funding for what I do,” she said.
“People automatically assume that because I have so many animals, that I would not be able to do it.
“Unless I get donations, all the costs come out of my back pocket and that includes veterinary bills, food like fresh fruit and vegetables, laundry costs and puppy pads.”
Bompas of Beachport will be hosting a Duck-A-Roo Wildlife Rescue fundraiser this Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 5pm.
The event will raise funds for a flight aviary to home injured and orphaned birds, including eagles, hawks, owls and kookaburras.
Bompas aims to raise $1000 for materials to build the aviary and will host a number of games and events with prizes throughout the weekend to do so.
Those attending will also have the opportunity to hold and have a photograph taken with a number of Narelle’s rescued animals, including Abbie.
