Treating patients @Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital

Dobby the tiny black flying fox was brought into the world sooner than expected after her mother was attacked by a dog.

Dobby’s mother Georgia was found at the base of a tree with severe trauma to her wing membrane. The team at the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital also discovered that she was carrying a tiny flying fox in her swollen abdomen, almost at full term. With the injuries that Georgia had sustained, there was sadly nothing more the hospital team could do to help her, but there was still hope for her unborn pup.

Dr. Rebecca and her team rushed Georgia into surgery and successfully delivered Dobby the tiny pup via caesarean, and watched her take her very first breaths on her own. Wrapped tight and snug in a bat wrap, with a special bat pacifier in her mouth, Dobby has been placed in care with an experienced bat carer, until she is old enough to be released into the wild.

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• Read more about the unique patients at the hospital!

Caesar the young barking owl broke his wing in his first attempt to fly as a fledgling.

With his fluffy feathers and unsteady wings, Caesar was still learning how to fly when he landed heavily on the ground. An x-ray at the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital showed that the fall had broken his radius and ulna in his right wing, with both bones protruding from the skin. This is called a compound fracture and causes an increased risk of infection.

Dr. Rosie and her team took Caesar into surgery to realign the bones and insert a surgical pin to hold them in place, before providing Caesar with broad-spectrum antibiotics and calcium supplements, to help his bones heal. Unlike mammals, bird’s bones can heal quite quickly and in just three weeks firm calluses had formed on the fractures, giving Dr. Rosie the go head to surgically remove the pin in his wing. Less than one week later, Caesar was testing his new wings and was ready to begin his rehabilitation with a specialised wildlife carer. 

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• Find out how you can get more involved in wildlife conservation!