⏱️ The 62nd edition of our newsletter is a 5-minute read.

🙋‍♀️ It’s Ellie, your Mid North Coaster reporter.

🎉 A big hello to all 14,300+ of you!! Thank you for subscribing and following along. It’s so exiting to see the community grow every week.

I hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine and warm weather. I’m definitely noticing my calendar filling up quick now that it’s spring! With school holidays just around the corner, I’ll create a list of affordable activities happening across the region. Keep an eye out for that later today.

If you know any, please feel free to get in touch! Simply reply to this email with the details.

Spring also brings along lots of adorable baby animals — and some young wildlife will be out and about exploring their new life. Last week I spoke to a FAWNA volunteer after two injured joeys were found by members of the public who took them home, attempting to care for them. They acted out of compassion and had good intentions, however, the joeys did not receive the treatment they needed. Kym explained to me the specialist training FAWNA volunteers receive and stressed the importance of calling on them if you ever come across injured wildlife. I’ll drop some information on this below.

We’ll also take a look at another Great Koala National Park story – this time, how it could create revenue through carbon credits.

But first, do you know where this is on the MNC? We’ve received so many answers posted to Instagram, TikTok and Facebook. I’ll post the correct answer on Friday so get in quick if you think you know where this stunning lookout is…

🦘Why you should call FAWNA if you find injured wildlife – instead of trying to do it yourself

FAWNA is urging locals not to try and care for wildlife themselves after two orphaned joeys on the Mid North Coast likely suffered while in the hands of well-meaning – but untrained – members of the public.

What are the specific needs of Joeys?Joeys require a special lactose-free formula for food. Kilpatrick said two recent incidents involving locals attempting to provide care themselves had resulted in the wrong type of nourishment being delivered. 

“One of these Joeys had been on soy milk. That didn’t work,” Kilpatrick said.

“And even if you get the specialised milk, it has to be provided at a level that fits that particular state of their development”.

“Then you have to know what dilution and how often you need to feed it. It's a big job”.

The younger the joey, the more frequent the feed. Furless or “pinkie” joeys need feeding every three to four hours, around the clock.

What it takes: Young joeys must be kept warm at the correct temperature and in a quiet, stable environment. Older furred joeys are highly sensitive to stress. If handled by children or kept in noisy surroundings, they can develop capture myopathy, a fatal stress condition.

Joey injuries are not obvious to an untrained eye. Without treatment, they endure pain silently. 

FAWNA said attempts to raise joeys at home often result in suffering and malnutrition, and death in over 90 percent of cases.

“Trained wildlife carers can provide the right nutrition, medical assessment, and care environment that give these animals the best chance at survival and eventual release back into the wild,” Kilpatrick said.

How to help: Kilpatrick emphasised the need to call FAWNA as soon as possible when encountering injured wildlife.

“FAWNA is here to help, to rescue and care for animals,” Kilpatrick said.

“Caring for wildlife is a really specialised skillset that our volunteers are trained for.”

“We don’t want people to stop checking pouches… but we need people to definitely help us by calling it in, and not think that they can do it if they're not trained”.

“And if people want to get involved in wildlife care, please come and join FAWNA. We will get you registered”.

FAWNA covers 18,000 square kilometres across the MidCoast, Kempsey Shire and Port Macquarie-Hastings LGAs.

If you find a Joey, or any other injured native wildlife, contact FAWNA 6581 4141.

For training courses visit: https://fawna.org.au/training-events/

➡️ Read the full article here.

Thanks fore reading! I’ll be back with another newsletter on Friday morning. In the meantime, you can keep up to date on our Instagram, TikTok and Facebook, or check the website.

As always, if you’d like to get in touch, just reply to this email.

👋 Ellie