Member spotlight - Devils @ Cradle
Devils @ Cradle is a small facility located at Cradle Mountain, where they specialise in native carnivores and house over 100 animals at any one time. They operate with 8 staff, who are all incredibly passionate about what they do and regularly go over and above their job descriptions. The staff regularly attend rescue call outs on the mountain, monitor the health of the local wildlife population, and treat mange in their wombat population.
Pru Carpenter, one of the sanctuary’s employees is especially passionate about wombats and mange management so has spearheaded and organised a program to monitor and treat mange in the local wombat population in the greater Cradle Mountain Area including the Vale of Belvoir. She has, with the support of the General Manager, undertaken training to administer approved treatments to wild wombats suffering from mange and gained the appropriate licences and permissions to track and treat affected animals. She goes out twice weekly after her shift at the sanctuary to undertake this.
Staff also routinely set infra-red wildlife monitoring cameras on the Cradle View property to monitor the local populations of wallabies, pademelons, wombats, devils, quolls, endangered raptors (grey goshawk in particular) and feral cats. Staff set these cameras and review the footage in their own time and take the necessary steps to intervene if necessary i.e. treat injuries.
As well as this, they rehabilitate injured and orphaned wildlife, rehoming when necessary and providing critical care for any species that are surrendered to the sanctuary. Rehabilitating an animal is a big commitment that often involves round the clock critical care, initial feeding every four hours, intravenous fluids, antibiotics, specialised animal treatments and vet expenses. Devils @ cradle also networks with local carers for longer-term housing.