16 July 2021

AustralianBush, Australianwildlife, Compromised, Echidna, Mammals, Monotreme, NativeAustralianMammals, Nocturnalanimals, NocturnalWildlife, Northern Rivers, ProtectAustralianWildlife, ProtectNativeHabitat, Rescue, Wildlife, WildlifeAwareness, Wildlifeprotection, WIRES / 28/06/2022

When Brian arrived at work this morning at Kyogle BWS bottle shop, he found the shop in a terrible mess, things knocked over and lots of broken bottles all over the floor. His immediate thought was the shop had been broken into and vandalised.

As he looked around the shop he realised that a set of shelving with a stack of wine casks 8 boxes high had been slightly moved and was leaning over. How and why would an intruder move the heavy shelving?

Brian investigated further and soon realised that the intruder was in fact an Echidna, now curled up below the shelving which it had managed to actually move.
WIRES volunteers call Echidnas the bulldozers of the bush, their strength is just simply incredible, for a small mammal they can move logs and rocks; they can climb fences and swim across creeks and rivers. Not much will stop an Echidna getting to where it has decided it is going.
Rescuing an Echidna can be a hard task as they can move their spines individually, they can quickly dig themselves into the soil, they can wedge themselves into a corner or hang onto almost anything, making the task of moving them without causing injury to the animal very very difficult.
This Echidna was no exception now firmly wedged below the shelving and in no hurry to move.
 
 
 
It was ascertained that the Echidna had really good taste as the shelving it had climbed prior to finding its hiding spot was filled with bottles of Champagne, all of which were now lying smashed all over the floor.
WIRES volunteer Rebecca is fortunately trained in how to encourage an Echidna to give up its grasp and soon had the intruder dislodged from below the shelving.

After an examination where no injuries were found, it was released in a suitable spot outside and well away from the shop. The Echidna moved away in a straight line, it had obviously not consumed too much Champagne during the night.

Thank you to the staff of Kyogle BWS bottle shop for calling WIRES, we hope the offender had learnt its lesson and will not Enter and Break again.