Introduction: Numbers of dead and injured animals are constantly found along Australian roads. When marsupial females are roadkilled, the young in the pouch often survive the mother. The current Australian environmental, ethical and legal frameworks for these orphaned animals involve their being hand-reared by volunteer wildlife carers. This review provides an estimate of the numbers of marsupial roadkill, how many orphans may require care, the financial costs of raising orphaned pouch-young and the number of active carers across the country. The review goes on to describe the other facets of the possible impacts on wildlife carers, including the potential physical demands and psychological costs associated with the task.
Methodology: A systematic search was performed of the Australian research literature from 1973 until 2017. 14 studies of Australian mammalian roadkill were identified and from these an estimate was made for the roadkill per kilometre per day. Using the total road length in Australia, a conservative estimate of the number of Australian mammalian roadkill per annum was produced. Information was received on the number of joeys rescued and released and the number of active wildlife carers in Australia This data was collated to estimate the workload and financial costs involved in being a wildlife carer. A search of peerreviewed, international literature (from 1989-2016) was used to predict the different types of grief that could be experienced by a wildlife carer.
Main Findings: A conservative estimate is four million Australian mammalian roadkill per annum, 560 000 orphans and 50 000 of these are rescued, rehabilitated and released by wildlife carers. The financial input to raise one joey is estimated at $2 000 a year and time input equating to $31 000/year. It is suggested that wildlife carers most likely experience many types of grief but are also susceptible to burn-out through compassion fatigue.
Principle Conclusions and Implications for Field: The physical, financial and mental contributions made by wildlife carers are considerable. As roadkill increases, volunteering declines and financial costs increase, those volunteers still acting as wildlife carers are likely to experience increasing workloads, and with that, increasing financial, mental and physical stressors.
The wildlife carers who manage Australia’s injured and orphaned native animals are a national asset that may require strategic nurturing with empathy, understanding, financial and psychological support if it is to remain viable and sustainable.