In October last year two very caring people, Lynne and Alex found a very sick and exhausted Hawksbill turtle on a beach on the far south coast.  

The turtle was initially cared for by WIRES member Janine.  After his stay with Janine, Motchy, as he came to be known was transferred to the Merimbula Aquarium where he was housed and looked after for 8 months! 

In late March, he was deemed fit to go back home, to the ocean.  It was a very special day. 

Lynne and Alex, Janine, Michael who cared for Motchy at the Aquarium, and Anthony, the owner of the Aquarium, were chauffeured from Merimbula to Narooma by National Parks and Wildlife Ranger, Craig.

Training courses are currently scheduled for Albury, Kings Langley, Illawarra, Lismore, Kurrajong, Sydney Northern Beaches, Forbes, Penrith, Goulburn and Coffs Harbour. WIRES needs caring people to help native wildlife.

If you have ever wanted to help and want to be ready to assist, look for a training course in your local area.

If there is no training scheduled for your area you can register to receive email updates on upcoming training courses.

Garry joined WIRES Riverina in April 2006 upon arriving to the area to work at the Barrick Cowal Gold Mine. 

The mine is located on the edge of Lake Cowal, near West Wyalong and is home to large numbers of native frogs, birds, mammals, raptors, bats, spiders, insects and fish. 

These animals and the lush fringing habitat is the perfect home for large numbers of Long-necked turtles, Eastern brown snakes, Blue-bellied black snakes and Tiger snakes.  During 2011 there was a mouse and black cricket plague in the area and with an abundance of food many of these species thrived.