For anyone who knows WA’s South West, the Busselton Highway is usually quite a busy and fast-moving road. Now imagine it coming to a standstill, with traffic piling up.
It was not an accident or a breakdown; rather, Anastasia, a HSE Advisor at RTW and a volunteer with Geo Bay Wildlife Rescue, pulled over to help a long-neck turtle trying to cross the road.
“I could see all the cars banking up behind me and they were probably annoyed because they could not see why I had stopped,” Anastasia said.
“But it was for the turtle.
“Someone always needs help, so if you can stop and do something, you should.”
Moments like that are a normal part of life for Anastasia, who jokes that injured animals seem to find her wherever she goes.
“Every time I rock up with the crate at work, they ask, ‘What do you have there now?’” she said.
“Last year, there was a week where it felt like every single day there was somebody, either a possum or a chicken.”
Anastasia volunteers with Geo Bay Wildlife Rescue, a charity that covers the Geographe Bay area from Yallingup through to Capel, providing care and rehabilitation for injured, sick or abandoned wildlife with the goal of returning animals to their native habitat.
That includes the critically endangered Western Ringtail Possum, brushtail and other possums, native birds and long-neck turtles.
Monadelphous is sponsoring the centre as part of its Community Grants Program, supporting a group of volunteers who work year-round to help wildlife in South West WA.
For Anastasia, her path into wildlife rescue felt almost inevitable.
“I was always interested in animals, and I always find them somewhere, like I am a magnet,” she said.
“I realised soon enough that I had to get more involved with the rescue centre from there.”
Originally from Russia, Anastasia moved to Australia in 2011, spent several years in South Korea, and then returned to Australia. She joined RTW in 2022 after working at the Bunbury port. It was around that time that she found her calling to help rescue animals in need.
Some rescues are simple. Others are anything but. Animals stuck under cars are a regular challenge. Heat is another big danger, especially for possums.
“At the moment, it is mostly possums because it is too hot,” she said.
“Most of the time, they are dehydrated. Sometimes they have burns on their paws, or they have no coordination.”
Despite the tough moments, Anastasia said the most rewarding part comes at the end.
“The best thing is when you release them and you know they made it through,” she said.
“You put them back and they go back to their normal wildlife. You feel like you helped in their life.”
Though sometimes, the animals are not in a hurry to leave.
“There were a couple that were very attached,” Anastasia said.
“You leave the cage open so they can go out and back. They come back every second day, then one day they do not come back. That is when you know they are okay.”
Geo Bay Wildlife Rescue also relies heavily on the local community. People regularly arrive at the centre with animals they have found, sometimes in boxes, sometimes carrying very small and very tired patients.
“On Saturdays when I go there to clean the cages and feed the possums, somebody will often rock up with an animal,” Anastasia said.
“A few weeks in a row, people brought in very dehydrated possums, even with babies.”
You can find out more about the GeoBay Wildlife Rescue here. And, if you have any spare cages you’re not using, Anastasia or the centre would be grateful to take them off your hands.