19/08/2026
There has been a comment made today that if we as wildlife carers cannot simply “dispatch” a sick bird on the roadside and we can't handle what rescue throws at us it is time to get out!
I want to address this because there is a very important distinction being missed. Humane euthanasia is part of wildlife rescue BUT that does not mean every wildlife carer should be expected to kill an animal themselves on the roadside.
Us at Hills Wildlife Guardians have participated in Captive Bolt Gun Training as we recognise there is a need for roadside assistance for kangaroos hit by cars ect.. and as part of our training we have practiced these skills out in the field. It's one thing to say you can do it and another thing to physically do. Killing an animal is not easy. It should never become something we treat casually or as a test of whether someone is “tough enough” to be a wildlife carer.
Our responsibility is to prevent unnecessary suffering while also operating within our permits, our competency, veterinary advice, animal welfare requirements and importantly at the moment BIOSECURITY!
PIRSA advises that sick or dead wildlife can present a disease-transmission risk and that suspected disease in wildlife must be reported. There are also specific precautions around handling sick and dead birds.
So no, we are not advocating that sick or injured birds should be left to suffer.
Quite the opposite.
South Australia has formal codes of practice for the humane destruction of wildlife because euthanasia and wildlife destruction are serious animal-welfare matters, not something to be reduced to “just kill it and bury it”.
Being a wildlife carer means having the compassion to save an animal when we can and the compassion to prevent suffering when we cannot. It also means understanding when NOT to handle an animal because doing so could create a biosecurity risk to ourselves, other wildlife, domestic animals or the wider community.
We don't need carers to prove how tough they are...
We need trained, responsible carers who know when to treat, when to refer, when to report and when is the appropriate times to make the difficult welfare decision.
That is what responsible wildlife rescue looks like.
We care but care enough to view the bigger picture.
