Why Care?

Often, when I talk to people about the difficulties I have experienced as a new wildlife carer, they ask me why I do it - why care?

I completely understand where they are coming from. Caring is hard, and there are so many reasons not to do it. From the outside looking in, I can see why it seems hopeless in the face of massive conservation disasters, mass culling, and environmental catastrophes.

From pulling the bodies of joeys off the highway that people have intentionally swerved to hit, to losing a little pinkie that I have given sleepless nights and heart-wrenching days. Rescue and care can be soul-crushing. I have sobbed over so many bodies in the last few months, so many little lives that were deserving of sunny days and fresh grass for years to come.

Even the happy days are sad days when the baby you have nurtured and loved moves on to the next stage in their life, or the rescue you bring back from the brink goes to a more experienced, equipped keeper. Having to relinquish the love you hold so they can have a better life is hard. As carers, it should always be about the animals, but sometimes I wish for just a few days longer to enjoy the happy moments. Those are the moments you wait for from the second they came into your care, when they are finally healthy and happy, and the fear is gone. It breaks my heart to see them come in, and it breaks my heart to see them go, but it hurts the most when they never get the chance to leave me.

Sometimes it feels like you never win. Like every single thing about caring hurts.

It's not until you're lying in the grass, watching a joey take their first big skips around the yard, that you realize it was all worth it.

It was worth the 2am feeds.

It was worth the seven loads of laundry a day.

It was worth the fight with the sewing machine.

It was worth the constant bottle washing and teat sterilizing.

It was worth the hundreds of dollars spent on equipment and fabric.

It was worth the hours poring over books and research papers.

It was worth the dedication of hours of free time.

I don't say this to put other potential carers off, but to express that it is not easy to justify "Why care?" To care, you have to put so much value in those fleeting moments of joy, the joy of the rearing, the joy of the rehabilitation, the joy of the release. I acknowledge that as one person, I won't make a huge difference to the conservation of our native species, but I can make a difference to the few animals that come into my care. Maybe change a few minds about how people perceive Eastern Greys along the way too. I care because the small moments of just impacting one animal's life in a positive way are worth it all to me.

I care because I care.