The glider hiding and holding on to my finger for dear life
Last night was an eventful night for me. I went to my parent’s place for dinner, I saw a car crash through a barrier on a main road (I seriously have no idea how they did that) and I rescued a sugar glider from a cat.
I was reversing up my parent’s driveway that is on the edge of a nature reserve and in the reverse lights I saw a cat with something in its mouth. No stranger to rescuing things from cats (grew up with cats), I immediately hopped out of the car and waited until the cat was in a good position before I crash tackled it and, sitting on top of the cat to pin in, stuck my fingers in its mouth until it released the poor creature. Said poor creature was a sugar glider, one of Australia’s native mammals, and freaking adorable to boot.
I released it from the cat’s mouth and then had to unhook all its claws that had latched on to the cat’s face in response. I have a suspicion the cat copped a claw to the ear for its trouble, but that really wasn’t my concern. The glider responded by hanging on to my ring finger for dear life and refusing to let go. It curled up in my hand, and hid its face under its paws. I borrowed a kitten carrier from my mum and took it home. It was a battle getting it to let go of my finger!
Upon getting home, in better light, I checked it for wounds (and took the pics I’ve included), and called WIRES. I left a voicemail message and just 4 minutes later my phone rang with the after hours rescue team leader calling me back to arrange pickup. She said even though it appeared barely hurt, the bacteria from the cat could kill it so it needed antibiotics. I took it to a rescuer’s home 30 minutes from my place immediately and was very sad to watch it go 
(I have a suspicion the rescuer thinks it was caught by my cat, but to be frank my cat would have trouble catching a leaf and she isn’t out at night anyway).
The whole incident really brought home to me how important WIRES is. Even with their swift intervention, this little darling sadly did not make it through the night.
WIRES was established in 1985, so has literally been around as long as I have, and was established due to an injured ibis no one was set up to care for. Thanks to this ibis, it was identified that native animals did not have a rescue program like the RSPCA. It is a not-for-profit organisation that relies entirely on donations and volunteers to complete the work.
After this episode, which has been the second time I have contacted WIRES (the first was when I found a lace monitor with an injury on my parents’ driveway), I am feeling a bit inspired to donate and/or sign up to become a carer. I love animals, all animals (except funnel webs, vicious little buggers) and I would really like to help.
Have you ever rescued an animal? Do you donate to WIRES? Are you a volunteer? We’d love to hear from you.
If you would like to donate to WIRES, you can do so here.
