Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary and Wildlife Hospital is calling for more volunteers to help rescue injured wildlife across the north of the state.
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Bonorong run the wildlife rescue service across Tasmania and have recorded a rise in the number of trapped or injured animals requiring rescue in recent months.
To meet the increase in demand Bonorong was running two free training webinars and calling for new volunteers.
Bonorong director Greg Irons said the organisation rescued 13,500 animals last year and expects that number to increase by 500 to 1000 this year.
"In terms of ratios we do pretty well, we get to about 96 or 97 per cent of the rescue calls we receive," he said.
"The issue is that as we grow the demand on all the rescuers is sort of growing and we find that our response times get smaller. So the longer it takes to get to an animal the more chance that it dies or disappears."
He said Burnie and Devonport were two locations in the North-West that received a lot of calls but did not have the volunteer numbers required to adequately service the region.
"Burnie and Devonport are getting tougher and tougher. There's only a handful of people that are really active," he said.
"There's just never been much interest unfortunately in the North-West of the state"
Mr Irons said volunteering was not hard and people could go to as many or as few rescues as they like once they have been trained.
The most common injuries tend to be animals that have been hit by a car or stuck in a fence, according to Mr Irons. He said Injuries from dog and cat attacks were common as well.
He said the cost to volunteers was minimal and should not deter would-be recruits.
"The cost to volunteers is really only petrol for the car and time. Most of the things you need to rescue the animals can be found around the house," Mr Irons said.
Mr Irons said the training would provide volunteers with the basic skills to safely rescue most animals, like how to remove a joey from a pouch and pick up and transport an injured animal.
Training sessions will be held on July 24 and September 26. For more information or to volunteer visit www.bonorong.com.au
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