NORTHERN RIVERS WILDLIFE HOSPITAL

Help build a new state of the art wildlife hospital so that our injured and sick animals can survive.

Wildlife in the Northern Rivers region need your support

Too many sick and injured wildlife in the NSW Northern Rivers are not surviving the long journey it takes to receive professional treatment.

You can help establish this new wildlife hospital to ensure all animals get the immediate care they deserve and need to survive.

Veterinarians and nurses at Milton Village Vet treating Hissy the possum's burns. Hissy suffered third-degree burns to all four paws.
© WWF-Australia / Leonie Sii

How you can help

Despite the region’s incredible biodiversity, there’s no static hospital to treat sick and injured wildlife in the NSW Northern Rivers. The impacts of deforestation and drought were already taking their toll when the catastrophic 2019-20 bushfires hit, making the need for a fully-equipped local facility even more urgent. With the recent devastating floods in Northern NSW, wildlife has been in desperate need of help once again.

Currently, animals travel up to two hours by car to receive specialised treatment, resulting in low survival rates for already threatened species. That’s why your help is so vital. Together, with your support, we are on a mission to help our wildlife face these extreme events and ensure their long-term survival is secured.

By supporting this project to establish a new, fully-equipped modern wildlife hospital, you’ll help ensure more native animals get the professional treatment they need, as soon as they need it, to increase animal welfare and survival rates.

Orphaned swamp wallaby joey at Milton Village Vet
© WWF-Australia / Leonie Sii

Project milestones

With the number of wildlife needing treatment rising, and the ever-present threat of another bushfire season, we’re aiming to get the hospital built and operational as soon as possible. The sooner the hospital is fully operational, the sooner sick and injured wildlife can receive the specialist care they need to survive.

  • Currently working on: Complete construction and internal fitout
  • By 15 December 2022: Hospital equipment purchased and installed
  • 28 February 2023: Hospital build completed
  • 15 March 2023: Hospital opens and first patients received

Investment breakdown

Your donation will be used to fund the construction and fit-out of the new Northern Rivers Wildlife Hospital. You’ll also be helping to purchase the specialised equipment required to deliver exceptional levels of care for the wildlife that gets treated there. For example, contributions will help cover the costs of:
Dr Jon Hanger, Managing Director and Wildlife Veterinarian analysing injured koala  Xrays at Endevaour Vet Ecology.

$150

will help towards an X-ray machine to identify fractures.

Veterinarian Dr Carrie Hawthorne and nurse Hannah Beasley at Milton Village Vet

$400

will help purchase a surgical operating table to ensure patients’ well-being.

Dr Carloyn Hogg from University of Sydney tests koala DNA

$1,000

will contribute towards a blood analyser to quickly diagnose disease.

WWF and Dr Anne Fowler treating Cinders the ringtail possum who suffered burns to her paws in the Cudlee Creek bushfires in the Adelaide hills

$2,500

will cover costs for an anaesthetic machine to safely perform complex operations.

Injured koala lays sedated on hospital bed
Injured koala lays sedated on hospital bed © Shutterstock / ChameleonsEye / WWF

Our promise

When you invest today, we’ll keep you updated on the project’s progress, so you can see exactly how you’re making an impact. Wildlife hospitals are a crucial element in modern wildlife care and threatened species conservation. As part of WWF-Australia’s ongoing bushfire recovery work, we’re already working with 16 organisations to increase the capacity of carers and hospitals. This is a significant next step to support the survival of threatened native wildlife so we can maintain and build wild populations.

Staff from online furniture business Koala at a tree planting event at Cook Park in Ruse. The event included a live cross on the Today Show to promote Koala's support of WWF-Australia's Towards Two Billion Trees campaign.
© WWF-Aus / Paul Fahy

Become a Partner in Conservation

If you decide to give $1,000 or more towards this project, not only will you be making a significant difference to this project but you’ll also become part of our Partners in Conservation community.

In thanks and recognition of your exceptional commitment to nature, you would receive exclusive impact updates as well as invitations to special events around the country.

How can you help Regenerate Australia?