AMAZING VOLUNTEERING OPPURTUNITY

Belinda Cannell, who talked to us about her research project "Little Penguin Project" last semester, is now looking for volunteers! She will be starting beach captures in October on Penguin Island. Two volunteers are needed for each night, and will be provided with accommodation at on-site research quarters. DEC staff member Sandy McNeill will be training volunteers in penguin handling beforehand. Anyone interested needs to contact both Belinda and Sandy.

Belinda Cannell: B.Cannell@murdoch.edu.au
Sandy McNeill: 0439 090 734

Wildlife Photography Competition

Do you have some WILD photos of wildlife? Then why not enter them in the MUWA Wildlife Photography Competition?

This years competition will be judged by award winning photographer Bob Litchfield and wildlife photographer Mike Helbig.

The winning photo will be published in the Australian Veterinary Journal with the possibility of even being on the front cover! There are also a number of other great prizes up for grabs incuding our peoples choice award.

Entries are limited to three per person and need to be submitted by Wednesday the 11th of August.

All entries can be emailed to murdochmuwa@gmail.com or submitted on a disc with your name and email address to the MUWA pigeon hole outside of the vet common room.

Silvery Gibbons Talk

MUWA's next WWS is a talk from Perth Zoo assocaite veterinarian, Dr. Karen Payne, on Thursday 6th of May at 12.30pm. Dr. Payne will be talking to us about her work with Silvery Gibbons and the work performed by Perth Zoo and "The Silvery Gibbon Project" to help conserve this endangered species.

When: 12.30pm Thursday 6th of May
Where: 4th year lecture theater (VCS2.008)
Cost: FREE for members, gold coin donations for non members

Memership can be purchased at the event

For more details see the promotional poster below.

Meet the Natives: Reptiles

Ever wondered what types of reptiles might be commonly brought into veterinary clinics, or even just the ones that you might find in your backyard? Not sure how to handle snakes and lizards? Then join MUWA along with speakers from Kanyana to gain an appreciation of all things scaly!

When: 5-7pm Thursday 22nd April
Where: 4th Year Lecture Theater
Cost: $7 (covers information session on common native reptiles, hands on learning experience with real, live lizards and snakes, and a BBQ!)

For more details, please see our promotional poster below

Due to the limited number of animals available for handling this is a MEMBERS ONLY EVENT!!

For more information on Kanyana Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, and to learn how to help, please visit their website

SPECIAL EVENT: "Wildlives" Photography Exhibit Private Tour

Dr. Gary Bielby is a wildlife vet and photographer who, as part of the FotoFreo event, is holding an exhibition of his work at the Victoria Park Centre for the Arts. MUWA has been lucky enough the secure an exclusive tour of the exhibition with Gary himself, where he will take us through the exhibit and provide us with lots of handy hints on wildlife photography (especially helpful for those of you plannint on entering the Wildlife Photography Competition in semester 2).

MEMBERS ONLY EVENT!

When: Saturday March 25th, departing @ 10:30 am
Where: Carpooling from the vet pergola to the Victoria park Centre for the Arts
Cost: FREE entry plus donation towards petrol costs

For more info on the exhibit, visit http://wildlives.beilby.com

Little Penguin Project Talk

MUWA's next WWS is a presentation from Belinda Cannell on her research on Little Penguins in the Perth metropolitan region. Many of our members in the past have helped Belinda to conduct her research so this is your opportunity to find out the results.

When: 12.30pm Thursday 18th March
Where: 4th year lecture theater (VCS 2.008)
Cost: Free for members, gold coin donation for non members

Membership can be purchased at the event

Membership Sign Up

Don't miss out on getting your MUWA membership for 2010.

Sign up is from 12.30pm-1.30pm at the vet pergola, along with all the other SIGs.

Membership is only $15 and will give you free entry to all wildlife workshop seminars (WWS), wildlife post mortems, discounted entry to evening events, first priority and discounts for MUWA excursions and other "limited numbers" events.

So come along to find out what MUWA is all about and get your membership.

1st Event - Australian Orangutan Project WWS

MUWA is excited to announce their first event of the year. A Wildlife Workshop Seminar presented by Bill Waterer, the national state co-ordinator from the Australian Orangutan Project. Bill will be presenting a talk on orangutans, their behaviour and the threat they face. This event will also be the launch of MUWA's "Don't Palm Us Off" postcard signature drive for the Perth Zoo (see here for more information).

For more details see the promotional poster below.

To find out more about the Australian Orangutan Project visit www.orangutan.org.au

WE'VE ADOPTED AN ORANGUTAN! Meet Bula here.

Don't Palm Us Off Campaign

Don’t Palm Us Off is part of a national campaign urging people to sign a petition – via postcards, an interactive touch-screen at Perth Zoo or online – to mandate the labelling of products containing palm oil. MUWA will be running a postcard drive where you can show your support for this campaign in the coming weeks, so keep your eyes out for postcards (or you can visit the Perth Zoo site here and sign the online petition).

Approximately 6,000 orangutans are killed per year and the United Nations warns that orangutans could become extinct within a generation. The primary reason for the orangutans’ habitat being destroyed is the increasing demand for oil palm plantations which results in large-scale clearing of rainforests in Indonesia and Malaysia. Over 85% of the world’s palm oil comes from these two countries.

As a vegetable oil, palm oil is used in a variety of products such as chocolate, bread, detergents and cosmetics. While oil palm plantations could be grown on already-degraded land, palm oil companies lobby to use forested land because they can sell off the valuable forest timber.

The aim of the campaign is to empower consumers to make informed decisions about the food they purchase. By knowing whether or not palm oil has been used in the production of groceries and household products, you can choose not to buy those products and therefore help orangutans. It is estimated that Australians unknowingly consume an average of ten kilograms of palm oil per person each year.

In South-east Asia alone, the equivalent of 300 soccer fields are deforested every hour for oil palm plantations. In addition to fuelling global warming by releasing vast quantities of CO² into the atmosphere, this unsustainable practice is pushing species such as the Sumatran Orangutan toward extinction.

When displaced orangutans venture into the plantations in search of food, many are slaughtered. Often bounties are offered for their slaughter and orphaned infants are sold in the pet trade.

Many other animals including the Sumatran Tiger and Sumatran Elephant are also affected by the sprawl of oil palm plantations encroaching on their habitat.

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has the power to change food labelling legislation. However, in order to justify this change the community needs to ensure that FSANZ knows that you want the right to choose.

Mission Statement

MUWA's objectives are:
a) To promote the development of a dedicated wildlife curriculum, together with teaching and clinical facilities for the treatment of wildlife at Murdoch University.
b) To provide an avenue for members to gain knowledge and expertise in the handling, veterinary care and rehabilitation of native Australian wildlife, as well as exotic non-domestic species.
c) To broaden and encourage a wider knowledge of wildlife medicine within the Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences at Murdoch University, and also the wider community.
d) To promote the preservation of Australian native species.
e) To foster and promote public appreciation of the role veterinarians play in conservation biology.
f) To compile a contact base through which individual members and affiliated organisations can gain extra-curricular experience in the area of wildlife medicine and conservation biology.
g) To organise field trips to rehabilitation centres - rehabilitation is a natural extension of veterinary treatment.
h) To hold practical workshops and seminars on topics of interest to members.