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Meet Kayleigh Greig.
By day, she’s Beaches COVERED.’s intern journalist learning the ropes of publishing.
By night, she’s wrangling snakes, rescuing native wildlife and giving our wild neighbours a second shot at life.
Claws, tails, teeth and scales, as a wildlife rescuer, I deal with it all.
How did I get to a point in my life in which I regularly handle the world’s most venomous snakes, cut wallaby joeys out of roadkill pouches and check bandicoot traps on fauna surveys, you ask? Probably when I asked the fateful question: “May I please have a crocodile?” of my bemused parents in anticipation of my seventh birthday. “Or a snake,” I conceded, seemingly realising our pool may not provide ample swimming space for the world’s largest living reptile. My father, who was and still is practically snake-phobic, laughed. But my mother, a life-long animal lover, must have softened his resolve, because next thing I knew, they had given me my own pet python.
Now that they knew we had one, my Mum’s friends began asking questions like, “Hey, you know how to handle snakes, right? Can you get the diamond python out of my yard?” Realising she should probably train for this, Mum signed up for the Sydney Wildlife Rescue and Care course. It began with a fairy wren called Plucky, named after the feathers she lost when we had to extract her from a sticky bug mat. Fifteen years and hundreds of rescues later, my Mum is still a volunteer wildlife rescuer and now, so am I.
The day before I turned 18, I was already at the course, learning how to rescue everything from birds to possums to echidnas, before I latched onto the first opportunity to take the venomous snake, bat, baby possum, and seabird courses, among others. My past is a patchwork of scaly and furry faces we’ve rescued, rehabilitated and released. Many names I’ve forgotten, but each soul has touched my own as I’ve fallen in love with all the little characters I’ve had the honour of knowing.Of course, it’s not all cuddles and happy endings.
Wildlife rescue is a tough gig; every animal that comes into care has seen the wrong end of humanity, and many are so heavily compromised that they cannot be saved. It’s expensive, it’s messy, and it’s painful, but for me and all the other incredible rescuers, vets and helpers I’ve met on this journey, it’s one we can’t imagine our lives without.Sydney Wildlife RescueRing-tailed possums, kookaburras, long-neck turtles, flying foxes and yes, even red-bellied black snakes, the Northern Beaches is home to more than just a diverse array of people. The true natives of The Beaches, our wildlife, have more right than any of us to enjoy the beautiful bushland and seasides that we call home.
But when humans and animals interact, it’s often the critters that get the wrong end of the deal. Hit by cars, cut by whipper snippers, bitten by dogs and attacked by cats; our furry, feathery and scaly kin can often end up in strife. But what do you do when you find an orphaned, injured or sick wild animal? That’s where Sydney Wildlife Rescue steps in.
Ring the hotline on 9413 4300, and a volunteer will hear your case and send messages to carers in the area until one of them accepts. The rescuer will come out as soon as possible to the location you’ve given, catch the animal and take it to either a vet or their own home for rehabilitation until it can be released back into bushland close to where it was found.
Want to know how you can help? Go to sydneywildlife.org.au for more info.
