THE FUNNIEST RESCUE

Thats me on the boat and Jessi Grace (our current ARC chairperson)
in the water. The photo was taken by one of the family that called us.
It was a funny rescue! The ARC phone rang at about 8pm and I got
the bad news in installments.
"We have a bat rescue.........Oh yes
Its on barbed wire.......Oh no
Its out the back of Jilliby (a good hour away).......Agggggg!
Its over water.........You're joking!
Its in the middle of the dam........(swear word)
Its about 4 ft above the water........(ominous silence)
They have a canoe........(more silence)"

I rang up the people and asked whether they could organise some lights.

To do them justice they were very upset and very helpful. They had just got back from a week-end away which is why they rang so late. Then I rang Jessi and picked her up on the way. We both managed to collect useful bat gear...we had two of everything that could possibly be needed to remove a bat.TWe got there and it was pitch dark.....thank heavens for sensible people. They had rigged some lead lights and some torches. We tried to wade out to the bat....but the water was chest high so that was out. I thought about cutting the wire but it was new wire and tightly tensioned and I didn't think that would help either the bat or us. So the canoe it was. But I had to kneel as high as possible so hence Jessie had to steady the canoe. Luckily the bat was fairly quiet and I got him off fairly easily.

So we said good bye..and slooshed our way to the car. Despite all our equipment neither of us had brought a change of clothes. So we stripped to the skin and arrayed ourselves in bat towels. Jessi rehydrated the bat and we giggled all the way home. I was driving ever so carefully because our giggles were anticipating the picture of us being hauled over by the Police. We still have the bat, he's called Moses (for obvious reasons) and he probably wont fly again....but he may. We are trying the massage and macadamia oil treatment. I dont know about Jessi and I...our last rescue was rather hysterical as well. We kept a sole baby bat alive on high electricity wires in the heat this year for 36 hours until the Electricity people could come....we used a super soaker fired from the roof of my car.

Kerryn Parry-Jones

THE SCARIEST RESCUE

In the Tweed we have a lot of properties with wire dividing a dam into two. This allows property owners to carry different stock at the same watering location i.e. horses on one side, and cattle on the other. Unfortunately, they are great snag traps for belly skimming bat drinkers, who skim the water surface, and then hit the fence.

Called out to such an incident one morning, it was with some trepidation that I entered the dam: towels over shoulder, and tools in the pockets. The bat; a heavily pregnant grey-headed flying-fox was snagged by one wing, and remained remarkably calm with my approach. This may have been because as each step progressed nearer in that foot sucking mud, I was actually getting deeper i.e. getting shorter.

Upon reaching her, I was chest deep in water, and my tools were submerged in my pockets. Having convinced myself that I was not going to drown, I was then presented with a piece of information that I could have done without.

The property owner (who was nice and dry on the bank) decided at that point to inform me that the dam contained a huge eel the size of an anaconda. OK - he actually said the words "really big eel." My mind turned the unseen beast into an anaconda which was invisible (and no doubt approaching with murderous intent) in the murky water. Spurred on by this information, the grey girl was soon safely off the fence, and I was safe on dry land - not dragged away to some underwater lair. My sneakers however, would never be the same again.

This lovely natured grey gave birth a few days later to a bouncing baby girl, and both were successfully released later down the track. To my horror, I had a second grey girl caught in the same spot exactly one week later which completely finished my sneakers off. Entering that dam for the second time was much scarier, because second time around I knew before entering the water that it was inhabited by a giant eel with a diet preference for wildlife carers.

The second female was fine, but required much longer in care due to extensive membrane damage, and unfortunately aborted her dead pup within 24 hours. After the second incident, the owner of the property (who was really concerned) replaced all wire over his dam with high tensile plain wire. One more safe spot to drink in the Tweed. I never did see the eel.

Dave Pinson

TURTLE RESCUE

During the summer months I regularly go down to the creek to bathe in a new watering hole created by the recent floods. Unfortunately this is situated next to where the neighbour's 4 strand barbed wire flood fence used to be which is now strewn down the creek, and anchored just up from this hole. On this particular day I noticed something dangling from the wire and as I approached I recognised a snake neck turtle flapping about, startled by my proximity. It's knee joint was caught on one of the barbs and it was suspended high and dry now that the creek waters had receded. Thought about getting a camera but i was too concerned with the pain that this reptile would be experiencing. I quickly unhooked the turtle and without further ado it swam of down the creek seemingly unharmed. I immediately took the time to clear up the fence from down the creek, the second time in the past 12 months, and spoke to the neighbour about installing a plain strand of electric wire. It's a cheaper and more flexible option, is easier to recover than barbed and in most cases cheaper to repair. He didn't seem keen, once his cattle were hungry a single strand wouldn't hold them back, best keep to the barbs. Surely though this is a management issue, turf them out of the paddock once they're on the lookout for greener pastures. Anyhow, when time comes to rebuild the fence - everyone seems to be waiting in case another flood eventuates - I'll state my case once again, but tradition is a hard master to change.

 

And some weeks later ...........Success!! Yesterday my neighbour phoned wanting to repair the flood fence. I stated my case again for a plain wire electric fence, explaining cheapness, ease of construction, ease of recovery, little injury to people, cattle and wildlife. When he arrived we agreed that a two strand fence would suffice and we hung it together with him gaining a bit more of the creek - but oh well, I see it as a trade off.

Darren Williams

The use of barbed wire to fence over water is dangerous for wildlife for several reasons:

1. •bats fly over water to get a drink at night and do not see the fence
   many water birds need a fair length of water to take off and land, and as waterholes shrink find they can no longer do this without entanglement
   

2. •barbed wire fences are dislodged in waterways in flood, and become a hazard to wildlife in the water like turtles
   

The project has very little information about the best methods of fencing over water and welcomes ideas from anyone with experience in this area. However rescues from fencing over water are the subject of 3 of our 4 rescue stories .

There are 2 publications that relate to this topic.

west aust water note WRCWN19.pdf Stock in Waterways - A manager's guide. The pdf has some information on suspended flood fencing and diagrams.

managing stock ld & water pf020258.pdf This publication from a government department in Western Australia has diagrams of "suspended cable fences" and a "hinged flood gate" (though that has a barb on top)

Photos by Chantelle Pinnington, taken at Torrens Creek in far North Queensland. This Little Red flying fox and Whistling Duck were caught on the same span of fence.