Vernon Russell

Sea Turtle Rescue - October 2009
At about at 10am we got a call from our phonie, Ian Williams asking us to check out a beached Turtle on Shark Bay Beach in Iluka. Gordon, a MOP who'd called WIRES to report the beaching, kindly drove us the 3km's up the beach in his great old Ford F1-150.

When we reached the spot along the mid - high tide line, some kind holiday makers had used their beach tent to shade her and kept her wet by bucketing water from the low tide line. She was huge and we had no idea how we could get her to the NPWS Depot. With the help of more kind tourists, 4 strong men only just managed to lift her into the back of Gordon's truck.

Once at the Iluka NPWS Depot she was measured at over 3 foot long, her weight 150 -200kg was a guestimate. This old girl had to be getting close to 80 - 100 years old. The only injury noticed was a 3 inch scratch on the edge of her shell, just behind a flipper. She will be taken to Ballina for further care and hopefully returned to the sea once again to live out the rest of her life.

Update: Sadly this old lady didn't make it and died two days later. 

Oscar is a Tawny Frogmouth (Podargus strigoides) and came into care with a suspected broken wing.

After a thorough examination, he was given a kill bill of health.

Luckily a few days rest and a good feed was all he needed and he was soon released back into the wild.

He was given the name Oscar because of the slight resemblance (pictured right) to Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street and was not happy to be in care.

Many people think that Tawny Frogmouths are owls. This isn't true, they are a member of the Nightjar family. 

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