The Bay Post/Moruya Examiner profiles the hobbies of people in our community each week in the feature, ‘Get on your hobbyhorse’. Do you have an interesting hobby? Email journalist Josh Gidney at josh.gidney@fairfaxmedia.com.au or phone him at 4472 6577.
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TURLINJAH Wildlife Information and Rescue Service (WIRES) volunteer Leiha Thompson was born into her passion of helping native animals.
“I grew up with my parents in WIRES,” she said.
“We had 20 acres at Potato Point and we rehabilitated native animals, mainly large mammals.
“Growing up it wasn’t unusual to see a kangaroo with a joey in its pouch when I woke up in the morning.”
It has been in the past 10 years that that she has been most active in WIRES, and she knows what she likes about it.
“Everything,” she said.
“What isn’t there to like? We have a really close WIRES community in NSW, and we work closely together in a network.”
Leiha said the Eurobodalla branch had more than 20 active members, between 10 and 15 who are active on a day-to-day basis.
“I can’t stress enough that we are always looking for more,” she said.
Eastern grey kangaroos are her favourite animal.
“I have a real passion for them,” she said.
“People think they are big strong animals but they are not. They are very fragile. They all have different personalities and are a real treat.”
Leiha helped coordinate the effort to find and help a young eastern grey that had been shot by an arrow at North Durras recently.
She also has great fondness for swamp and red-necked wallabies and currently has two young wombats, Pebbles and Wendy, in her care.
“Wombats are just different; they are stubborn,” she said.
“If they don’t want to do something they don’t do it. I have formed a close bond with the pair in my care.”
The best part of what Leiha does is releasing animals back into the wild after they have been restored to health.
“I cry with joy because it is emotional,” she said.
Of course it doesn’t always end well.
“There is a lot of bad with the good,” she said.
“The vets around here are fantastic and with them we have to make a sound decision about whether animals will thrive when released.”
Not keen to rest on her laurels, Leiha has undergone further courses in animal care to be able to care for more animals, and is part of the WIRES training team herself.
“We have a very good training team in the area,” she said.