Jirrahlinga - Wildlife Rescue in Barwon Heads, Australia

While I am a tourist trap junkie, I also care deeply about animals. Don't much care for people as a general rule, but put a wounded animal in front of me and I break down. Thus our journey from Melbourne down to Jirrahlinga Koala & Wildlife Sanctuary in Barwon Heads, Victoria this past weekend.

Jirrahlinga is not just another tourist trap where you get to pet and feed the kangaroos and wallabies, though. This is mainly a rescue refuge for wounded and displaced animals. They do have one wallaby hopping around the general area, but most are in enclosures. You see, most of the animals here are being rehabilitated so they can hopefully be reintegrated into the wild. They do not want these poor animals to get too fond of humans, or be further traumatized by children. There are some who have gotten too used to human contact to make it on their own, and some which cannot be reintroduced to their natural habitat due to injuries. They just would not be able to fend for themselves any longer. These are the ones you will likely see should you be generous enough to cough up the $10 admittance. Jirrahlinga lets you come take a peak to help supplement their rescue efforts.

What you will see are a bunch of various birds native to the region such as cockatoos, parrots, and the most beautiful white peacock ever. I had no idea such a creature existed. It was stunning. They also have some injured Black Swans, but those you can see at any body of water in Victoria.

  Jirrahlinga has several wombats, echidnas and the usual animals you will see at every wildlife park, but they also have something different: some flying foxes. I had heard of this creature, but hadn't had the pleasure of actually seeing one until now. They have 3 on display and wow, are these things ever cool. They have the heads of a fox, and the huge leathery wings of a bat. I need to look up which they are closer too in the animal kingdom. Amazing little beast. They were hanging upside down like bats when we saw them.

On my many adventures to the various wildlife parks all over Victoria, I had been slowly getting closer to koalas. Firs from afar at the Royal Melbourne Zoo, then close enough for some great picks at the Werribee Wildlife place, then several out in the wild, almost being within reach of one... but at Jirrahlinga we finally got to play with one. Oh wow! I had imagined they would be soft like their marsupial cousins the Roost and Wallabies. Not so. They are more woolly, closer to maybe an Alpaca in feel. This little guy was like a big ol' baby and loved the attention from us mere humans. It was just cute and cuddly as hell.

As I said, Jirrahlinga is not primarily a tourist trap. They do this just to have more income to take care of all the wounded and displaced wildlife. They are in a bit of trouble. Recently there has been an unbelievable amount of brush fires, which have both injured animals and burned off their natural habitats. This means Jirrahlinga is flooded with orphans now and they need donations bad in order to continue their work. On top of that, the owner has recently been diagnosed with MS. She is doing the best she can with help from her husband, but they need funding to hire more help. Give it up, folks. Even a dollar will help.

If nothing else, at least put them on your list of things to do if you plan to visit the state of Victoria in Australia. That $10 admittance will help them out a lot. The animals there will thank you for it... up close and personal like.

http://www.jirrahlinga.com.au