Beverley Langley is the owner of Minton Farm, a property located in Cherry Gardens, approximately 15km South of Adelaide, South Australia. The sanctuary is a native fauna rescue and rehabilitation centre which houses a wide variety of wildlife, has been fox-proofed with fencing and revegetated along each of its boundaries.
Beverley and her colleagues at Minton Farm have tried to create a safe haven for injured wildlife, as well as for the wildlife inhabitants of the area through the improvement of habitat and control of feral species. Approximately 600 native animals a year are rescued and rehabilitated on the sanctuary before being released.
The sanctuary covers approximately 2.5 hectares made up of pasture surrounded by vegetation belts of gum, acacia and various understory plants with reeds and rushes planted along the creekline among casuarina and gum regeneration. The property was cleared and farmed in the late 1800’s before being revegetated with endemic species as a wildlife corridor to join remnant local scrub.
Aside from the many species being rehabilitated, fauna sighted on Minton Farm includes several species of wrens, honeyeaters, robins, owls, hawks and whistlers, as well as laughing kookaburras (Dacelo novaeguineae), tawny frogmouths (Podargus strigoides), wedge-tailed eagles (Aquila audax), southern brown bandicoots (Isoodon obesulus), brushtail (Trichosurus vulpecula) and ringtail (Pseudocheirus peregrinus) possums, koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus), western grey kangaroos (Macropus fuliginosus melanops) and southern hairy nosed wombats (Lasiorhinus latifrons).
This sanctuary is featured in Wildlife Lands 18!
Cherry Gardens’ Minton Farm Animal Rescue Centre provides a free community service taking in injured and orphaned animals and nursing them back to health. Since its inception in 1992, we have cared for more than 10,500 orphaned, injured or abandoned animals. As the manager, I was impressed with the concept of the Wildlife Land Trust and keen to assist with the program to expand its reach in South Australia.
While it’s normal for us to experience a spike in rescues in springtime, harsh weather in 2016 saw an acute escalation in the number of animals brought into our care during this period. Trees were uprooted with possums still in their hollows and nests were blown from trees with baby birds in them. Floods caused different problems again for wildlife with tortoises washed from creeks, ducklings separated from their families, and tawny frogmouths falling from their already flimsy nests. All of these animals were rescued by members of the public and brought to us to be cared for until they were strong enough to be returned. And then there was Buffy, a 600g orphan koala found soaking wet in a roadside gutter after a storm. After a stint in our intensive care unit, Buffy doubled in weight and is now flourishing.
Wildlife rescued at the Centre ranges from kangaroo joeys, possums, koalas, magpies, tawny frogmouths, kookaburras and eagles to lizards and tortoises. There are six acres of predator proofed enclosures, a reception, and an intensive care unit capable of housing thirty creatures in separate enclosures with heat, humidity, oxygen or nebulisers as necessary. Rescued wildlife is moved to outside enclosures once their condition stabilises, to build up their strength prior to release. There are approximately forty aviaries for possums and birds, plus four shade-cloth-lined flights for raptors to fly without damaging their feathers on wire. We’re lucky to have volunteers, ranging from 18 to 70 years of age, who work in teams on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
We rely on our wonderful volunteers, donations and fundraising events to carry out our important work. Learn more about Bev’s work at www.mintonfarm.org
