Photo: Janét Moyle (left) and Megan Kearney speaking at the NRCF Grant Giving Event.

Supporting our vulnerable wildlife

Janét Moyle is passionate about supporting animal welfare and wildlife. That is why she seeded The Animal Welfare & Wildlife Conservation Fund with the NRCF in 2018. Over two years, the fund has continued to grow, thanks to NRCF donors who share this passion – including local vet, Megan Kearney.

Janét, what inspired you to establish a special wildlife fund with the NRCF?

Animal rights and wildlife protection have always been the strongest motivator for my activism and philanthropy.

I was introduced to the NRCF by Michael Murray. At the time, the Foundation supported some wildlife projects through their General Giving Fund, however there was no specific Sub Fund dedicated to wildlife.

That is why I very quickly established a targeted Sub Fund. It was an instant YES from me because the Fund remains in perpetuity, grows, and increases its reach and potency as more people contribute. I also know that the Grants from this Fund will support local projects. The team at NRCF made the whole process very easy.

Megan, what do you see as the immediate issues that need to be addressed, to protect our most vulnerable species?

As a wildlife vet working in the Northern Rivers, I know the immediate issues facing wildlife are habitat destruction and fragmentation, climate change and physical trauma.

Over 10 000 wild animals are rescued by local wildlife rescue and rehabilitation groups in the Northern Rivers each year. Over 90% of wild animals admitted into wildlife hospitals in south-east Queensland and the Northern Rivers are victims of physical trauma such as motor vehicle strikes, injuries from tree clearing, predation by domestic dogs and cats and entanglement in barbed wire and fruit netting.

The numbers of wild animals admitted to Currumbin Wildlife Hospital during the Commonwealth Games dropped by 50%. Simple things that we can all do is to slow down on the roads day and night; keep cats inside especially at night; stop your dogs from chasing wildlife including birds; remove or cover barbed wire and re-consider fruit netting.

Important information on what you can do for wildlife, including fact sheets on fencing, fruit netting, domestic pets and restoring habitat, can be found on the WIRES website. I have also provided the contact numbers for local rescue groups below.

Janét, is there anything else you would like to share?

Recently I encountered a Stone curlew mesmerised by its own stock-still reflection in a shop window on a busy corner in Byron CBD. Stone curlews are endangered in NSW, only 10% of their numbers remain. Despairing, I notified WIRES, walked to the Book Room and randomly opened a book to a moving poem.

Here is an adapted version (from Mary Oliver’s Meadowlark Sings and I Greet Him In Return)

Stone Curlew when you sing
it’s as if you lay your nocturnal heart upon mine and say
hello hello, and are we not
of one family in our delight of life?
You wail, I listen
both are necessary if the world is to continue going around though not everyone knows this or at least
not yet,
or perhaps, has forgotten it in the torn fields,
in the terrible debris of progress.

Local Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation Groups

Australian Seabird Rescue: 02 6686 2852 www.seabirdrescue.org.au

Friends of the Koala: 02 6622 1233 www.friendsofthekoala.org

Northern Rivers Wildlife Carers: 02 6628 1866 www.wildlifecarers.com

WIRES Northern Rivers: 02 6628 1898 www.wiresnr.org

If you are interested in leaving a long-lasting legacy in our region, consider setting up a Named Fund with the NRCF, or making a bequest. Find more information on the Giving Page of our website here or feel free to contact us anytime at info@nrcf.org.au, or 0499 862 886.