Today our studio guest was Amy Amato who is the Development Manager at Wildlife Victoria. After working in the tourism industry Amy became involved with Wildlife Victoria after the Black Saturday bushfire's when she assisted with the rescue of native animals injured by the fires. She commenced working for the organisation as the Marketing and Fundraising Manager.
Wildlife Victoria is a not for profit, volunteer based organisation that has been at the forefront of wildlife rescue and rehabilitation in Victoria since its formation in 1989. They provide a 24 hour, 7 day a week wildlife rescue and information service.
Anyone discovering an injured native animal can contact the Wildlife Victoria Emergency Phone Service on 13000 94535 or 13000 WILDLIFE (13 “000” WILDLIFE) to obtain assistance and Amy suggests people put this number in their mobile phone in case they need it. Calls are answered by a call centre which will assist getting the animal to a licensed wildlife shelter, foster carer or veterinarian. Typically the call centre takes 60,000 calls per year.
Volunteers are a critical part of the organisation. After satisfactorily completing a one day training program anyone can become a volunteer rescuer. The next training day is in Melbourne on the 1st of October. The cost is $20 for non-members or $10 for members. Wildlife Victoria membership costs $30. Volunteers can nominate the times they would like to be available.
Being a self-funded non-profit donations are important to the financial survival of Wildlife Victoria. You can donate online and anyone able to donate on a regular monthly basis becomes a WildFriend. Another fund raising effort is Wildlife Victoria's association with Goodwill Wines who produce a vegan wine labelled with the Wildlife Victoria logo. Goodwill Wines are based in the Yarra Valley and 50% of the profit on sales goes to Wildlife Victoria. The wine can be ordered online.
An important activity of Wildlife Victoria is the Wildlife Education Program which has been designed for schools. The main purpose of the program is promoting a more harmonious way of living with the unique creatures that share this land with us.
In keeping with our tradition of playing some music selected by our guest Amy brought in the album of her friend Adam Dunning called Sunset Monkeys which has an environmental theme. Adam has a passion for wildlife conservation and he supports Wildlife Victoria. We had problems with one of the tracks but you can listen to the album online.
Music you heard today;
- One Note Samba by Stereolab
- Emma’s House by Field Mice
- Sunset Monkeys by Adam Dunning
- Cattle and Cane by The Go Betweens
- Mount Eliza by Adam Dunning
The SMS challenge for today was “what organisation does our guest Amy Amato come from?” Correct answers sent by SMS to 0447 777 989 win a $10 gift voucher to the EnviroShop. Answers may also be left on our blog at http://environmentality989.blogspot.com/.
And today we received a correct answer by SMS from a listener who will receive a couple of $10 gift vouchers from the EnviroShop.
Thank you to Amy for being on the show and telling us about the great work being done by Wildlife Victoria.
Listen to the show!
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