Kalbarri Visitor in Kalbarri, Western Australia | Advertising agency

Kalbarri Visitor

Locality: Kalbarri, Western Australia

Phone: +61 499 039 606

Address: 1 Porter st 6536 Kalbarri, WA, Australia

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15.01.2022 LET’S TALK ABOUT ECHIDNAS. Echidnas are a hardy animal, with no real predators once they reach adult stage. Cars and habitat loss pose the greatest threat to t...hese adorable mammals. Despite being such a hardy animal, the echidna has one very vulnerable point; it’s snout. The snout is a long bone that extends from the skull, covered in tough skin, and the end contains sensory electro-receptors that aid in the detection of food such as ants and termites (along with their sense of smell and tongue that can reach up to 18cm!). Let’s recap: hardy animal, sensitive & important snout, cars not good! So more often than not, echidnas that come into care have been hit by cars. They are a slow-moving animal with not very much road sense. Often they are ‘rolled’ by cars when they are hit. They do not tend to sustain much injury to their body. In fact they may even continue to walk off into the brush after being hit, which leads many people to assume they are okay. The sad fact is that when echidnas are hit, they often sustain damage to their snouts and are NOT okay. They usually have broken snouts, and with this they lose their ability to find and forage for food. The echidnas in the photos above both starved to death. Their snouts had healed up, but the damage was too great. So they had been out there suffering for an extended period of time and were only found and brought into care once they were weak and sick. The photo of the echidna on his back shows how horribly emaciated he was (echidna tummys are normally flat with no hollows). PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD. If you hit an echidna or see one get hit (or see one lying on the side of the road), PLEASE get in to a carer or vet, or ring someone who can. Even if they continue to walk away, it is more important to have them checked over and released if they are okay, so that they do not suffer if they ARE NOT OKAY. Thank you ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ EXTRAS TIP: the key to nabbing an echidna is to grab them with a towel or roll them onto their back while they are still on the bitumen or gravel, as once they get their claws into soft ground they are almost impossible to pick up CHECKING A HIT ECHIDNA- Dead or Alive - Stop only if SAFE to do so - Check snout for any damage/breaks or blood coming from mouth - Check legs for any breaks - Check for a pouch! Female echidnas can be carrying an egg or a tiny puggle! - If in doubt, ALWAYS get a vet or carer to assess FUN FACT If you see a train of Echidnas, with as many as 2 - 10 walking in a line, the female will be the largest at the front, with the males following along behind, according to size. The female may lead the males around like this for up to 6 weeks and males may lose up to a quarter of their body size. The males are, of course, hoping to mate with the female. http://www.wiresnr.org/echidna.html PLEASE SHARE to help spread awareness for these cool critters!

15.01.2022 We need support!!

06.01.2022 September through to November is snake mating season they will be out searching for a mate Please call one of our snake handlers in town & we will come and remove them safely and then release them out in the National Park where they won’t bother anyone

06.01.2022 Snake Bites in Australia That bite of summer has well and truly come early this year and with that heat, comes snakes. 3000 bites are reported annually. 300-50...0 hospitalisations 2-3 deaths annually. Average time to death is 12 hours. The urban myth that you are bitten in the yard and die before you can walk from your chook pen back to the house is a load of rubbish. While not new, the management of snake bite (like a flood/fire evacuation plan or CPR) should be refreshed each season. Let’s start with a Basic overview. There are five genus of snakes that will harm us (seriously) Browns, Blacks, Adders, Tigers and Taipans. All snake venom is made up of huge proteins (like egg white). When bitten, a snake injects some venom into the meat of your limb (NOT into your blood). This venom can not be absorbed into the blood stream from the bite site. It travels in a fluid transport system in your body called the lymphatic system (not the blood stream). Now this fluid (lymph) is moved differently to blood. Your heart pumps blood around, so even when you are lying dead still, your blood still circulates around the body. Lymph fluid is different. It moves around with physical muscle movement like bending your arm, bending knees, wriggling fingers and toes, walking/exercise etc. Now here is the thing. Lymph fluid becomes blood after these lymph vessels converge to form one of two large vessels (lymphatic trunks)which are connected to veins at the base of the neck. Back to the snake bite site. When bitten, the venom has been injected into this lymph fluid (which makes up the bulk of the water in your tissues). The only way that the venom can get into your blood stream is to be moved from the bite site in the lymphatic vessels. The only way to do this is to physically move the limbs that were bitten. Stay still!!! Venom can’t move if the victim doesn’t move. Stay still!! Remember people are not bitten into their blood stream. In the 1980s a technique called Pressure immobilisation bandaging was developed to further retard venom movement. It completely stops venom /lymph transport toward the blood stream. A firm roll bandage is applied directly over the bite site (don’t wash the area). Technique: Three steps: keep them still Step 1 Apply a bandage over the bite site, to an area about 10cm above and below the bite. Step 2: Then using another elastic roller bandage, apply a firm wrap from Fingers/toes all the way to the armpit/groin. The bandage needs to be firm, but not so tight that it causes fingers or toes to turn purple or white. About the tension of a sprain bandage. Step 3: Splint the limb so the patient can’t walk or bend the limb. Do nots: Do not cut, incise or suck the venom. Do not EVER use a tourniquet Don’t remove the shirt or pants - just bandage over the top of clothing. Remember movement (like wriggling out of a shirt or pants) causes venom movement. DO NOT try to catch, kill or identify the snake!!! This is important. In hospital we NO LONGER NEED to know the type of snake; it doesn’t change treatment. 5 years ago we would do a test on the bite, blood or urine to identify the snake so the correct anti venom can be used. BUT NOW... we don’t do this. Our new Antivenom neutralises the venoms of all the 5 listed snake genus, so it doesn’t matter what snake bit the patient. Read that again- one injection for all snakes! Polyvalent is our one shot wonder, stocked in all hospitals, so most hospitals no longer stock specific Antivenins. Australian snakes tend to have 3 main effects in differing degrees. Bleeding - internally and bruising. Muscles paralysed causing difficulty talking, moving & breathing. Pain In some snakes severe muscle pain in the limb, and days later the bite site can break down forming a nasty wound. Allergy to snakes is rarer than winning lotto twice. Final tips: not all bitten people are envenomated and only those starting to show symptoms above are given antivenom. Did I mention to stay still. Repost Ect4health https://www.facebook.com/Ect4Health/ See more

05.01.2022 Do you remember the news that rock wallabies had been rediscovered in Kalbarri National Park? Department of Biodiversity Conservation and Attraction has since supplemented the population with wallabies from elsewhere. They spent last week monitoring the new population with great results.

05.01.2022 DID YOU KNOW? Even though our national bird, the Emu, is flightless, they still have many uses for their wings. They use them to cool themselves down in the h...eat, and stretch them out to allow air to move around their body! They also use them when they are running at top speed to steer in the right direction! Do you have any fun facts about our Australian big bird? instagram.com/granitaqueen