Australia Day was a sad day for a little family of Ringtail possums living at Bangalow. The Ringtail mother had made her drey (nest) in a large palm behind the Bangalow Hotel, there was plenty of cover and shade for her young, somewhere she felt safe and secure.

On Australia Day someone set fire to the palm, no one knows who or why, the result was however a very tragic one for this little family. After the fire brigade had been and put out the fire, the Ringtail mother was seen to run out from nearby bushes and throw herself into a pool of water left behind, she was caught by the hotel staff, a patron taking her home away for the noise and mayhem. The hotel staff contacted our local wildlife rescue group, and soon afterwards she was taken into care.

She was immediately sedated due to extreme stress, having lost much fur and treated for burns to her feet, hands and tail. During examination of the possum I discovered that it was a lactating female, which meant that somewhere there were also at least 2 young possum babies in big trouble.

Bangalow Hotel was contacted and asked if they could be on the lookout for the 2 babies. Later that evening, hotel staff called back that they had seen the 2 young Ringtail possums, and were keeping a vigil on their whereabouts, so we went back to the hotel. Unfortunately we were only able to catch one baby, the other one escaped and disappeared into the dense undergrowth. We received yet another call from the hotel staff at 3.30 am the following night; they had found and caught the second baby.

Mother Possum was reunited with her young. Unfortunately, one baby died from her injuries, curled up with her mother arms, just hours after coming into care. Mother Ringtail died 2 days later from internal injuries, probably sustained when she leapt from the flames. The second baby seen here, died 4 days later due to internal injuries.

I would like to thank the staff at The Bangalow Hotel for their fast action when first discovering the mother Ringtail, their compassion and persistent efforts in their search for the missing Ringtail babies. Thank you also to the gentleman that tried to help mother Ringtail before help arrived.