Here's a good news story from our guys in Qld:
William Branch is our Senior Hydraulic Pneumatic specialist and workshop manager in Mackay. In his spare time Will and his wife Andrea, volunteer to rescue and look after injured animals in and around Mackay. Over the last six months alone they have collected, looked after and released, either into the wild or to animal shelters, some 50 different animals and birds from Possums, Curlews, Fruit bats, Ducklings, Kingfisher birds and Kookaburras to name a few.
Last weekend one of valued customers, Scott Wood from the Grosvenor mine, contacted Will about a Curlew bird that he had come across with a broken leg. Scott had been in the workshop the week before inspecting a pump and tank cart that we are overhauling for them, and through some general conversation with Will found out he and Andrea were Mackay’s Wild Life Warriors. Will went out and collected the bird and now they are nursing it back to health at home before releasing it.
We have had many orders and requests over the years from Grosvenor, but this was the first to rescue injured wild life! And we didn’t even need an order number for the call out!
It was an adventurous weekend for Will as he was also called out on one night to rescue a large male fruit bat that had been mauled by two dogs. While the rescue operation was going on the bat latched with its teeth onto Will’s gloved hand when trying to pick it up…..OUCH!!! If anyone has seen a full grown Flying Fox they are by no means small in size and Will commented on just how strong and big it was. Unfortunately the attack by the dogs was too much and the male bat died later on from the injuries it sustained.
At present Will is nursing a small fruit bat before he then passes onto a local sanctuary.. This little fella has doubled in size over the last few weeks and gets bottle fed several times a day by Will. He (the bat) also talks or is that squawks to Jim in our stores during the day from his cage, as he is turning out to be quite a chatty little bat when he really needs to be sleeping, as they are nocturnal, in the upside down position or course!
Great story guys, keep up the good work..