7/15/2018 3 Comments $10k MILESTONELove at first sight................Spring 2015- I saw my first koala up close at Australia Zoo. My mum managed to capture this photo of it. We never thought that THIS moment would have such an impact on me and my family. This moment! The spark............In July 2016, I watched an episode of The Living Room. Dr Chris Brown had a story about koalas. He talked about how they were listed as a "vulnerable" species and how in QLD and NSW they were in real trouble. I wanted to do something to help- so my Crusade began in August. CLICK HERE FOR THE STORY The official start...........August 13th, 2016- I launched my Koala Crusade. I was 11 years old. I was so excited that I raised $1,100.00 in Aug/Sept 2016. I thought that was really amazing. I never thought that this was only the start of my work. I have learned so much over the last 2 years. My family has helped me LOTS! Without them, I would not have been able to do any of this. Even my brother supports my work. I have met so many inspiring people. They have led me to many other projects. I have had a lot of help and support from my community- sewing pouches, buying my produce and products and more. Without my community, i could not have done what i have done. I have been very spoiled with lovely messages, photos and gifts. I have spent many hours sitting at markets and events (in the sun, rain, wind and hail lol) trying to raise money and promote helping save koalas and wildlife. I have attended a lot of information events. I have spoken to a few community groups, my school and a kinder. We have sorted through tonnes of donated linen from which, we have donated more than 1,000 towels, made/had made and distributed almost 2,500 pouches, have sold more than 150 car rescue kits, sold more than 200 enviro bags made from pillow cases and lots more. I have planted a lot of trees (with my dad). We have driven hundreds of kilometres delivering donations. As a family- we have done a LOT! I know that I have inspired kids to help our wildlife. Showing them that: No voice is too little No hands are too small To help SAVE OUR WILDLIFE I cannot believe that in less than 2 years, I have managed to raise $10,027.29! TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS! I have donated in cash- $8,336.37 in products or invested in material or used for postage to send donations -$1,529.36 tally of donations- $9,865.73 I am currently fundraising for a special cause- I will reveal the details in a couple of weeks but I am very excited to be helping a Victorian shelter tackle a koala crisis. THANK YOU to EVERY person that I have met along the way, EVERY person that has donated money, goods or their time to my cause, EVERY person that has sent me messages of encouragement, EVERY person that has taken the time to meet and talk with me, EVERY person that helps to save our wildlife- you are angels! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! from me and my family. Team Libby You can continue to help me by donating online. You have three choices- Donate to MY koala work (I am currently raising money for victorian koala work) DONATE ONLINE- https://chuffed.org/project/libbys-koala-wildlife-crusade Donate direct to my Fundraising Account- Libby Fisher. BSB- 063594 AC: 10401537 (com bank) (All money donated to her account is recorded in her online chuffed page by us) Donate to my Australia Zoo Visionary Wildlife Fundraiser I support the amazing work that the zoo do for the koala populations facing extinction in QLD. My goal is $2,000.00 in 2018. https://vww2018.everydayhero.com/au/libby
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7/4/2018 0 Comments Koala ScalesI am so excited that I could help with this. We spoke to Janet a little while ago, she said that she was on the lookout for scales to help her weigh koalas accurately. This year I donated $500 to Janet- she was going to put this money towards scales- if she could work out a deal with one of her local vets to reduce a recent LARGE bill from them for treating Koalas.
Good news- she found some cheap scales! Bad news (or so she thought) - they were in Blackburn Good news- that's like 30 minutes from where we live We offered to pick up the scales for her AND Pay for them! I was so happy that my fundraising money could pay for these for Janet. She was lost for words and didn't know what to say- tears even. We are holding onto them until we can meet up with Janet hopefully at Werribee zoo when she makes one of the MANY trips to the zoo from Macarthur each month. It is a 3hr+ drive for Janet to get to Werribee Zoo yet she drives there for the specialised care they give koalas that she finds. The small scales weigh up to 15kg. The large scales weigh up to 100kg. No, you don't get koalas much bigger than 20kg but you do get them over 15kg (plus the basket they are weighed in). These scales are perfect as they have enough room for a washing basket (which Janet puts the koalas in to weigh them). They will be great in her new treatment room that she is building. I am really, really happy that I have been able to help Janet with a purchase as important as this. 6/23/2018 0 Comments New "snuggy rescue pouches"A few months ago someone left some "doona" samples in my donation bin. We didn't know what we could do with them but knew that we could find some way to make them into something that could help wildlife. Then a few months ago while we were at Coopers Animal Refuge, we saw that Christine had thick, puffy pouches for her pinkies. We asked her about the doona samples and she said they would be amazing if they were just covered in fleece and made into a pouch. So we tried it for her. She loved them but we needed to make one change to it to make sure it would survive a washing machine. Last week, we found 3 more of the samples when were were cleaning out the garage and made them into pouches. This week, Krysti from Rescue, Rehabilitate, Release called in to see us. We asked her to stop by as we had some pouches for her for her boy joey kangaroo that she had just taken into care. She has just started caring for kangaroos (she only did possums). Her first kangaroo in care is a tiny pinkie (furless) that she called Audrey. We thought it would be great if we could give her one of these new pouches to help her look after Audrey. Audrey is just getting her fur. Little Audrey weighs just over 1kg and and little Teddy weighs just over 2kg. Both of them were in the pink pouches I donated a couple of weeks ago. Today I gave her some blue ones specially for Teddy. She loved them. She really loved the new special one that I gave her. I got to feel how warm this new special pouch keeps Audrey. Because she's so little and only just getting her fur (she's called a "velvet"), she needs to be kept warm which is sometimes hard. With this pouch it won't be so hard. We were both really shocked by how warm it kept her- she was like holding a hot water bottle. 😍 Krysti loved that the pouch is kind of stiff so it stands up in her basket and that it's kind of tight so it keeps little Audrey snug (like mums pouch). Today we decided to call them "Snuggy Rescue Pouches" after the words Krysti used to describe them. We are going to buy some wool doonas from the op shop to make lots more for carers and rescuers. I want to make a special purple one (my favourite colour) to keep in my rescue kit. If you have any wool doonas that you don't want anymore I'd love them to make these. 16 parook court, diamond creek. Thankyou to Krysti for letting me see how my pouches can help you rehabilitate wildlife and for your feedback about this new pouch and to Christine from Coopers Animal Refuge for suggesting what we do with them. Your idea was fantastic.
Find Krysti- https://www.facebook.com/Rescue-Rehabilitate-Release-1268828089820048
Coopers Animal Refuge- https://www.facebook.com/groups/447935942004477 Its not spring but as you can see- there are babies around! Our local mobs has LOTS of babies in pouches- LOTS!!! This here is a mum with her little "velvet" joey poking its head out of the pouch. "Velvet" describes the stage (age) of a joey kangaroo. When they are first born they have no hair. When the joey is first born it weighs under a gram and is as tiny as 15 millimetres, very much like a small, pink jellybean. Within a couple of months the joeys grow but also, start to grow their hair. Its smooth, fine and like velvet and why at this stage, they are called a "velvet". At this age this joey would not be getting out of the pouch. It would maybe be chewing on some grass as mum bends down to graze but that's about it. Today the winter sun was a little warm and the mob came together to graze together. As you can see in these photos that my mum took- this joey is at the "velvet" stage. It would be so soft and smooth. Isn't this just the most adorable thing!! THIS shows why you must ALWAYS- STOP- CHECK AND/OR CALL if you hit wildlife or see one hit. They may be carrying beautiful babies just like this one that CAN survive the impact of a car strike. Here is some video of our mob- I hope you like watching them as much as we do. Sorry some parts are blurry- but mum is filming from a distance (to not scare them) and the camera is not on a tripod so a little shaky when zooming in. 6/19/2018 4 Comments Wildlife Road SignsHAPPY! EXCITED! PROUD! ECSTATIC! CELEBRATE! Two weeks ago my mum write emails to lots of important people about the kangaroos that were being killed on a local road. Its a busy road with paddocks running along it. We are very lucky to have kangaroos in these paddocks and more lucky, that in a year we don't get that many hit by cars on this road. BUT- roadworks have started on another major road and they have taken some of the habitat of a mob of kangaroos. This is making those kangaroos move into different areas to find food and safety and onto this road now. Mum and I made some temporary signs and put them up along the road. Lots of people commented on our local community social media pages which was great. People were seeing the signs and talking about kangaroos being along this road. When my mum wrote her letter we had 8 kangaroos hit- 7 killed and one known to be hit but not found, in less than 8 weeks. This is crazy. She pleaded with the people that she emailed to install kangaroo signs along this road. My mum emailed our local MP, local council, Vic Roads and local councillor. Within a couple of days we heard from our local MP that she spoke about this in parliament. She advised that signs would go up. We were really happy. Then last week, Vic Roads called my mum to tell her the same "great" news. TODAY IT HAPPENED!!! My mum was so happy to see the signs go up when she was coming along to check on the roos (there was another killed overnight and possibly a few more not seen from the road). But there was a problem- two of the signs were in the wrong spots. They pointed to be cautious of kangaroos ahead- when there were none. It was at the end of the road as you drove out of it. Luckily- a man from Vic Roads called her to check with her about her preferred locations and she mentioned this. He was still in the area and asked to meet with her to discuss it. It was a FANTASTIC meeting! My mum got to speak with two people from Vic Roads face to face and show them how two signs that they had installed, really did nothing. She asked that they be moved into the "windy mile" to remind people throughout this road of the potential dangers. They agreed that that is how they would be best used. Then they spoke of two other signs going up on the road that is having all the road works- my mum never asked for signs on this road. Its not a stretch known for kangaroo strikes. She pointed out that another road just behind where they were standing was very well known for kangaroo strikes. She didn't have "facts" on them but people were commenting on social media about this being a hot spot. She said how great it would be if two signs could go up on that road and guess what- THEY DID! Today we now have FOUR signs on two major "kangaroo" roads leading into Diamond Creek. I am so proud of my mum and so happy that we could do this for our kangaroos. Now...... Do you know what these signs actually mean?These signs mean a few things-
Diamond Creek Road- Diamond Creek VIC |
We have lots of furred and at foot joeys at the moment and its winter! Females don't just have joeys in their pouches in spring- its all year round they can have them. This is why its always important to stop and check any deceased wildlife - to make sure if they are female, they don't have a baby on board. |
Mum kangaroos are very loving and patient.
They share their paddocks with our mobs of kangaroos.
STAY ALERT ON THE ROADS between DUSK til 9am.
6/13/2018 1 Comment
Why "dead" trees are important
A hollow is a semi-enclosed cavity which has naturally formed in the trunk or branch of a tree. They are found mainly in old trees- living or dead.
Small animals like to use hollows as places to take shelter from weather and other predators. They also nest in them.
They are very important to the survival of some animals. These pictures show how much our local Long-billed corella's LOVE trees like this "naked"
tree. In a park full of leafy trees- they were playing in this tree! They loved it.
They were using it like a jungle gym and were literally swinging around the branches.
So next time you see a tree like this that looks dead- maybe try and see if you can see any "hollows" or animals or birds using it. The birds were using this tree like a jungle gym- it was funny to watch.
6/5/2018 0 Comments
World Environment Day 2018
Today (June 5th) is World Environment Day. It is a day to bring awareness to ways we can help our environment. There's a lot of people talking about single use plastic (which I'm passionate about) but what I want to talk about planting trees and saving forests. Without trees we don't have a healthy environment, without a healthy environment humans and wildlife will suffer.
We cut down forests to make paper, toilet paper and tissues. When we do this animals loose their habitat. It forces them on to roads and into suburbia, looking for food and new homes. They get hit by cars, attacked by dogs and die from starvation.
We also don't use Reflex Ultra White copy paper because we know it comes from mountain ash trees in our Central Highlands of Victoria (less than an hour from our home). So be sure to also think about the paper you, your work or your school uses. EVERY bit we use from recycled or sustainable materials WILL make a difference and WILL save trees.
If you can plant trees- be sure to find out what wildlife is in the area and what trees can help them. This is me at the You Yangs in Victoria last year where I helped Koala Clancy plant more than 2,000 trees for future koala habitat.
So before you next buy toilet paper or tissues why not give recycled a go?
Don't blow your nose or wipe your bum with a tree!! I don't!
10/14/2017 0 Comments
WILD KOALAS
Author
My name is Libby and I am 13 years old. I am a Koala Crusader- raising money and awareness for our VULNERABLE koala's and spreading messages about our wildlife that we are lucky enough to live WITH. These are stories written by ME!
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