Irwin legacy to sick animalsBy Lou Robson


IN A small corner of the busy emergency room, Jon Hanger is preparing to operate. The 36-year-old scrubs up, dons a surgical mask and raises his hands.
"This patient was hit by a car and has quite nasty injuries," Dr Hanger says.
"Ada's got a bad jaw fracture, serious lip lacerations and is one sad koala."
Ada is among 5000 patients admitted to the Australian Wildlife Hospital at Australia Zoo at Beerwah, 20km inland of Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast.
Opened in March 2004, the hospital is open 24 hours and treats all-comers. It was inspired by Lyn Irwin, the mother of the late Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin.Mrs Irwin, who died in a car crash in 2000, was a pioneer in wildlife care in Queensland and it was her dream to establish the hospital.
Tree frogs have received tiny leg splints, lizards had broken limbs cast and a 4g feathertail glider was treated for shock. Magpies, crows and emus are welcome. Possums, kangaroos, feral pigs and baby platypuses are admitted. Wild dogs, brown snakes, exotic parrots and blind koalas are also accepted.
"We don't send anything away," Dr Hanger said.
"We are here to relieve the suffering of animals and that means all of them, even feral animals such as pigeons, dingo-cross puppies and wild dogs. We don't look at a species and say, 'Oh it's common, we're not going to deal with it.' "
The small hospital is always busy. Last week, a green sea turtle was treated for shell lacerations, while a koala went under the knife. A 3m carpet snake received medication for a mouth infection while week-old wood ducklings waited for hourly feeds. An eclectus parrot with a nervous condition roosted outside while two baby platypus did laps of a kiddie pool.
Steve's widow, Terri Irwin, said the hospital, initially a koala care facility, had an "all creatures great and small" policy.
Terri, who recently returned to the Sunshine Coast after touring Canada with daughter Bindi, 8, and Robert, 3, to promote Australian tourism, said the facility catered to all animals.
"Steve always had this concept of treating animals the way you'd like to be treated," Terri, 42, said.
"Certainly if my leg was broken I'd hope that somebody wouldn't say, 'There's billions of humans, let's not worry about this one'."
At the hospital, crows are cared for as carefully as rare breeds, possums receive five-star treatment and goannas get top medical attention.
"It's the idea of caring for the individual animal whether or not they're endangered and we do not put a dollar amount on that," Terri said. "We've spent thousands of dollars on individual koalas to get them back up and running again."
One injured animal became a family friend. Terri said an emu called Kristy, found while the Irwins were travelling, has befriended Robert.
"We have an emu that we personally brought back from out west a couple of years ago. We go check on Kristy regularly, and Kristy and Robert have a very special relationship," Terri said.
"Kristy stopped growing so they're about the same height and they have long conversations together at the hospital when we drop in, which is often."
The hospital, once an avocado packing shed, is to be expanded to treat up to 10,000 animals a year.
It needs more room because some injured animals never leave. Blind 18-month-old koala Sammy, brought in as a baby, would die in the wild and now spends his days eating eucalyptus leaves outside the ER.
Three-year-old koala Whistler, the victim of a dog attack, lives a life of leisure in an outdoor enclosure and often donates blood to injured koalas.
Reno, the psychologically disturbed parrot, enjoys the calming company of sane birds in a sheltered courtyard.
The animals, like the hospital's four vets, six full-time nurses and 70 volunteers, are fixtures.
Inside, it's organised chaos. Donated equipment, animals and staff vie for space. The reception area merges with the operating room. Incubators, gifts from hospital pediatric wards, line the walls along with anaesthetic equipment, tiny X-ray machines and oxygen tanks.
A koala X-ray, clipped to an illuminated white board, shows Dr Hanger's handiwork. There are metal pins, a section of steel plate hand-sculpted to fit the animal's jaw, and a series of staples.
"No one else does this kind of work," said vet nurse Pauline Brookman.
"Dr Hanger is really good at what he does. He's one of Australia's best veterinary surgeons."
Since December 2003 he has worked on crocodiles, tigers, cheetahs, pelicans, camels and dingoes. He's wormed venomous snakes and performed check-ups on elephants and alligators.
"About 30 per cent of our work comes from Australia Zoo," Dr Hanger said.
"But the Wildlife Hospital caters for incoming animals, so we charge the zoo for the treatment we give."
The hospital, built on land donated by Australia Zoo, is part of Wildlife Warriors Worldwide Ltd, a charity created by Steve and Terri in 2002. The charity operates independently with Terri as patron.
Wildlife Warriors Worldwide spokesman Steve Francia said it cost more than $1 million a year to run the hospital and more funds were needed to expand the facility. Donations and volunteers were always appreciated.
• Anyone with an injured animal can contact the hospital's 24-hour hotline on 1300 369 652 . For more information, visit www.wildlifewarriors.org.au