In the midst of our own problems with COVID 19 right now; and following a pretty horrendous past 6 months with drought, fire and floods, we have just reached the end of our baby ringtail season (March 2020).
Baby ringtails start to come in in July every year. At
this time of year, the babies due to emerge fully in the Spring (September) are
just starting to check out life outside the pouch. They are immature and not
strong enough to hold onto Mum’s back tightly. Mums are agile. They move
quickly amongst the trees and even quicker if threatened by a predator, like a
cat. The immature babies often lose their grip and fall off. Unfortunately,
ringtails are not brave enough to go back and rescue a fallen baby, given that
they might risk their own life and the life of the twin baby still in the pouch
or clinging to the back.
There are other reasons for the big numbers of babies
coming into care of course through August, September and October (in 2019, 96
over those three months). Amongst these – mums dying on the road, or from cat
attacks, or from loss of habitat.
Then we have a second wave of babies in the new year –
January – March each year. There are usually smaller numbers than the Spring
season, many for the same reason but often extra problems noted because of the
climate at this time. This year was an extraordinary one. In January there were
15 rescues. This figure is lower than usual. Remember January – drought, heat
and smoke in Sydney! We assume mums were struggling and maybe died, with their
pouch young, from lack of food and the smoke and heat. It is natural for mums
under stress to abort very young babies in the pouch – this could also be a
factor. Then in February we had bigger numbers than usual, 36 rescues (22 last
year). The previous stresses were still around but the babies more mature.
Stressed mums will also abandon babies – but by now they are big enough to
withstand briefly -until the lucky ones are found and taken into care.
Cat attacks remain the number one reason for baby
ringtails coming into care – they account for about a quarter of all rescues.
Over the years we carers and the vets have learnt the best strategies for
survival from cat attacks. Firstly we need to get an antibiotic injection as
soon as possible. In the past couple of years there has been a lot of concern
about antibiotic resistance in using Baytril. Vets are increasingly using Bactrim
or Flagyl as alternatives.
There is still a low survival rate for babies coming
in under 50g (too immature), although we are seeing a higher survival rate of
babies overall since we started to give Impact on a regular basis to all babies
under 100g.
At the end of March we still have 39 babies in care –
to be released in the next couple of months.
Bev Young, Chair
Caroline Coleman, Ringtail Baby Coordinator
Sydney Wildlife
Northern Districts Branch