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Published: April 10th 2008
I see you
and I'm hungryWorking at Airport Vet is great because not only am I getting clinical experience, but Annabelle also cares for the animals in many of the surrounding wildlife parks. I remember being so excited when AustraLearn told me that! As part of our internship, Annabelle sent Christina, Gianna, and me to Hartley's Crocodile Adventures (+Farm) to be work experience students. Gianna is the new 5th year vet student who is spending a month at Airport Vet. More on that at a later date. Hartley's is about 45 minutes north of Cairns, closer to Port Douglas. This presented a problem since none of us have transportation other than the bus. We didn't even know the hours we would be working, so the only logical choice was to rent a car. A tech at the clinic told us that students usually rent from the place directly behind the clinic. The rental place specializes in hiring out older cars, so we figured between the car quality and the deal they have with the clinic it would be cheap. Our chosen vehicle was an aquamarine, 5-speed with a CD player that kept shorting out and going crazy, no AC, and nothing automatic (windows, steering, etc.). It
Blue Tongue Lizard
Aren't we a cute couple? looked to be from the early 80's, but I think the salesperson said it was from the 70's. Weeellll...once the insurance thing was added, it came out to be the same price as renting a 1 year old car. Damn.
Annabelle told us to be there between 8-8:30am, so this resulted in an ungodly waking time of 6:15am. We were a little late, due to good ole Rusty not starting the first couple of time Gianna tried. When we got there, the guy in charge (Dave?) gave us each an employee to follow around. Mine immediately sent me to scrub the bird poop off the concrete in the owl, eclectus, and kookaburra cages. Gianna got to cuddle wallabies and Christina played with snakes. Boooo. I felt like a total idiot because I had no idea where anything was and my guy had disappeared. Dave came over and told me to put the hose through the hole in the wire door so the door wasn't propped open. Then he walked away. I proceeded to not be able to fit it through because there was a plastic tie around the hose. When Dave came back, I showed him and he removed
Croc Farm
There were about 6 enclosures of this size. it. I went back to the hole and tried to shove the hose through. The blasted thing just wasn't the right size for the hose and it still didn't fit. So there I was, water pouring out of the hose as I debated finding Dave again and telling him so he didn't think I wasn't listening to him, propping the door open and cleaning as quickly as possible to finish before Dave came back, or hunting down my guy and telling him to do it himself because I obviously couldn't handle the task...all while futilely trying to shove the hose through even though I knew it wasn't going to fit. This was all within the first 15 minutes of being there. I felt so dumb that eventually I just laughed at myself and went back to how I was doing it before Dave came along. The first cage I cleaned was home to the barn owl and it took great offense at my intrusion and started flying into my head. So now I am trying to scrub the floor while dodging blows from the owl. And I still have only been there for less than half an hour.
After
I scrubbed the floors I still had no idea where my guy had gone, so I joined Christina and Gianna in the snake/reptile area. Thankfully the other workers were really cool. Bo showed us all the snakes and lizards and told us about each one. Of course we had to be total tourists and take pictures holding them. After this excitement it was time for the first "smoco" which is the snack/cigarette break. The food area is in the park, so Ash told us we should take the croc farm tour since it started right then. No one seemed to have a problem with it, so we followed the tour group to the estuarine croc farm which is right next to the park area. I had originally thought the farm was used to raise the crocs for meat, since it is fairly common here. This was before I learned that the skin is worth more per pound than gold. Until the 1970's, crocs were commonly hunted throughout Australia. When the populations were found to be a quarter less than they were first recorded to be, the hunting was banned. (As you can see, I forget the exact numbers) Since then,
the populations have remained steady but there hasn't been a dramatic increase in numbers. The farm raises the crocs to supply the demand for skin and meat without putting stress on the wild populations. Each year they process about 500 crocodiles. The eggs are harvested from the crocs in the park and from the breeding pairs in the farm. The eggs are hatched in the incubation room. From there, they are moved to the hatchery, which is a large, VERY warm and humid room. The baby crocs are kept in about 16 large tubs, with around 25 crocs per tub. After a year, the babies are moved into large tank-like enclosures, where they spend about another year. From there they move to the open pens that I have pictures of. After another year or so the crocs are killed. The enclosures are all concrete and smooth to ensure the best quality of skin without any scratches or imperfections. After seeing a croc skin pen in the gift shop selling for $85, I can see why this is such a big deal.
Ash did the croc farm talk, and he told us we should do the boat tour next. The
boat was full since we waited for him after the farm, so he took just the 3 of us on an exclusive boat tour. We waved to the other visitors on the crowded boat...I'm sure they just loved us hahha. The boat ride wasn't long, but we did see Ted, the biggest croc in the park, and a White-breasted sea eagle. Ash put a chunk of meat on a branch and we watched the eagle swoop down and grab it. After the eagle was fed, we went back to find a croc to attempt to feed him as well. We finally found one and although it took a lot of convincing, Ash managed to make him jump out of the water for a tasty piece of meat. Pretty exciting stuff. Christina's guide Bo was doing the croc shows, so we watched the estuarine croc ("saltwater") and freshwater croc shows. After all this leisure time we went back to the food prep area for a bit until lunch.
I had been meaning to try eating crocodile meat, so for lunch I ordered the crocodile caesar salad. It was tasty! The meat itself didn't taste like much on its own, and
I had been told that it tends to take on the flavor of whatever its cooked in. Unsurprisingly, my favorite part was the crispy bread slices it came with. Croc meat isn't fishy at all (as one might expect) and is a little chewier than chicken, but is a light meat. Its very low-fat and good for you! After lunch Gianna and I went back to the park while Christina spent the rest of the day on the farm. Lee gave us a tour of the outdoor reptile enclosures and was a great guide to follow around. He told us about the monitors, water dragons, turtles, and frilly lizards. While we were walking around we noticed keepers inside of a croc enclosure. Wandering over to look, I couldn't help but be alarmed at the sight of a man waist deep in water, messing around with the water plants, while the rather large croc was being distracted by another keeper on land. The female croc was on land near her nest mound, not being distracted in any way whatsoever. And the guy in the water never once looked up to see where the crocs were! The guy in the water turned
out to be Dave, my friend from the hose incident. Lee was doing the snake show, so we went and watched him in action. In case anyone is bitten by a venomous snake, this is what you do:
* Wrap the limb with the bandages you are going to have handy. Never try to stop the blood flow by tying something around the limb...it will actually quicken the venom spread. Also don't try to clean the wound or anything. When you get to the hospital the doctor will be able to use traces of venom around the wound to identify it for the anti-venom.
* Use a splint to restrict the movement of the limb. The more its moved, the quicker the venom will spread.
* Get to a hospital.
After the show he let us hold the olive python and I'm not 100%!c(MISSING)omfortable with a constricting snake being around my neck without me being able to see its head, as you can probably see in the photo. I also hand fed the kookaburras, and left a mouse on the crazy barn owl's branch since I was keeping my distance after it went for my
face. We ended the day by helping the keepers put the koalas back into their enclosures. Let me tell you, koalas may look all cute and cuddly, but they are one of the smelliest creatures I have ever held. Its not a horrible smell, but very strong and musky. One person described it as a combination of sweaty horses and eucalyptus, which is oddly fitting.
The next morning I woke up smelling koala, despite taking a shower the night before. I don't know if it was my shoes or my shirt in my laundry bin, but its not the most pleasant of aromas to wake up to. The morning was once again filled with food prep. After cleaning out the bird enclosures once again, we had to cut up fruits and veggies to feed the animals for the day. I mainly did the bird's foods. The cassowaries get a combination of tomatoes, paw paws (papaya), bananas, and apples. The ducks had to get scoops of various dry pellets covered with this wet grass stuff that Gianna and I had to grab out of freezing cold water. It was the first time this winter I thought I was going to
Risky Business
Tom keeping the croc distracted get frostbite haha. When I went to the duck pond to give them their new bowls of food, a duck that I forget the name of ran up to me and started biting the back of my calves and butt. I had to enter the enclosure by walking backward and fending the duck off with the bowl of food. He kept trying to leap over the bowl to get at me, but usually waited until he saw my back to attack. In a park full of venomous snakes and crocodiles, I get attacked by a duck. Good thing he didn't cause any actual damage or I would have had to invent a story of me singlehandedly saving a child from a croc or something. I also went into the aviary to feed the birds in there, and had a brolga (a large stork thing) rush at me from the other side of the fence and stalk me as I walked through it. What is with these killer birds??
After lunch Gianna and I went off to the croc farm. I started my farm experience by working in the hatchery previously mentioned. The VERY humid and warm room. I helped
Frog-mouthed Owls
are the cutest things ever Matt (the man in charge of the farm) clean out the tubs with the baby crocs in them. I started sweating after about 5 minutes. It took us about 25 minutes to spray all of the tubs down, but I was pretty much dripping sweat the whole time. And all I was doing was spraying the tank with the hose! Stepping out of the hatchery felt like walking into an air-conditioned room. Matt said they have to be in there for about 3 hours when moving the baby crocs around. That room is what hell must feel like.
It was feeding day for the adult breeding crocs so we loaded the pickup truck with dead chickens and huge fish to bring to the different pens. I wish I took a picture to show how disgusting our load was..we travelled in a large cloud of flies. Ugh. I asked about the genetic aspect of the croc farm, and if they keep track of the breeding strains or anything, and Matt said they pretty much just raise any males and females. They hope to one day keep track of the family trees and maybe breed the crocs that prove to have
a high fertility rate, but it takes so long for them to reach breeding age that they just don't have the capability right now. Watching the crocs get fed was craaaazy. Those beasts came charging over to the fence to get their chickens. Once they tossed the chicken/fish in, all you heard was a loud clap as the crocs closed their mouth and the burp once they swallowed it. It was just like Peter Pan. Crocs are definitely not known for their brains. If the food wasn't tossed directly in their mouth they had a difficult time finding it again. Sometimes they would be standing on the food while biting at the grass a couple of feet away. One almost wonders how they survive in the wild haha. Most of the crocs would just be sitting there patiently waiting for their food once they saw the truck. However, there were some crazies out there. This one croc (I believe they affectionately and truthfully called him Asshole) ran at the fence and was tearing into it. Needless to say, his fence was reinforced with steel. One croc used to be in the croc show, so Matt wanted to teach Bo how
Healthy Koala
Its about time that I saw one that wasn't half dead or sedated! to hand feed a croc using him. He was not cooperative and kept eyeing Bo as food. Finally they had to give up because the croc wouldn't fixate on the food, and the only time you are relatively safe with a croc is when they are completely focused on the food you have and not on you.
Matt was giving the croc attack show next so Gianna and I tagged along to watch. Some helpful hints that may save you if you are attacked by a croc in the water: stick a stick or something down his throat...they have this flap that covers the back of their mouth and if it is propped open, the croc should hypothetically let go since water will rush down its throat and it will think it is drowning. A man saved another person by sticking his fingers in an attacking croc's eyes, even though that method isn't guaranteed to work. If you are going near water that may have crocs in it, throw a bucket with a rope in first since the croc will instinctively attack anything that lands in the water.
The cassowary feeding was after the croc show, so met
up with Christina again and made our way there. I was especially excited to see the fruit I had labored over being used to feed them. One must take pride in their work after all! 😊 The cassowaries are huge scary birds that are very aggressive and could easily kill you if they so desired. They are very rare and only inhabit an area like 200 km north and south of Cairns. If you look at their feet, you can see that their one claw is a lot smaller and pointier than the other 2. When they attack they use that little claw like a dagger to stab you with. Lucy (tech at the clinic) told me that they are very smart birds and remember who has done bad stuff to them. If one comes into the clinic they have to have one person feed and generally leave them alone, and another person be the one who medicates them since they remember who did what. This was proven true when one of the keepers came over and the cassowary went crazy. She was rushing the fence and leaping up against it to get at him. When he walked away she
Swan
Stretchhh followed him along the fence as far as she could. Yikes...I wouldn't want to be on the bad side of one of those!
The koala feeding was right after the cassowary feeding, and we got there just in time to help the keepers put them away. The one I held decided that although she had sat in the tree all day, the moment I held her was the perfect time to go to the bathroom. I became aware of this when I felt the pee dripping down my leg. When I handed it over I noticed that there was also traces of poo on me. Even better. When I got home, I presoaked the shirt, sprayed it with hose, sprinkled it with detergent and sprayed it again with the hose, let it drip-dry a bit, then washed it in a load of laundry. And would you believe it, the shirt still smells like koala. I'm not kidding when I say they are stinky animals. At this rate everyone will be able to get a sniff themselves since I don't know how many washes it is going to take to get the smell out.
Well...that was a lot for
Vicious Beasts
Gianna having a faceoff with the swan only 2 days! I am going to try to get the videos online somehow so everyone can see the croc action for themselves. I only have a week and a half of my internship left, and I hope to get my travelling plans for after finalized this Thursday since I am waiting on a call from the airline. Hope everyone is well!
Lindsay
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The mother
non-member comment
I could just picture you!
I guess large farm animals in Conn. don't seem so bad now! I'm glad you got out of the owl cage alive. Now you must know why i get concerned when I don't hear from you. God only knows what creatures your trying to take care of. I can only imagine the heart ache in losing a favorite tee shirt to the likes of Koala poop!!! My poor daughter!!! Love you, love your blogs!!! I would have been a basket case without them. Being part of this adventure has been amazing. Your the best, my daughter, my friend.. Love you, Mom