Outback Wildlife Rescue

In an unforgiving land at the bottom of the world, sometimes nature needs a helping hand. "Outback Wildlife Rescue" tells the incredible stories of everyday heroes, bound by a single mission: to save wildlife, anywhere, anytime.

From the tropical Queensland coast, to monsoonal Darwin, to the red deserts of Alice Springs and beyond, the series showcases the rugged beauty of the Australian Outback and an amazing array of animals that call it home.

In the heart of Darwin, The Ark Animal Hospital is refuge for the Top End’s injured wildlife. Whether scaled, feathered or furred, all are welcome. Energetic and passionate, Lisa Hansen is the hospital’s Manager. Along with skilled veterinary surgeon, Dr. Stephen Cutter, they are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

There are few textbooks for the type of surgery that Stephen and Lisa must perform. And many of their supplies come from the local hardware shop. Stephen: “It’s frontier medicine in a way.”



The Top End is also a land inhabited by killer reptiles. There’s an estimated 70,000 Saltwater Crocodiles here, the highest concentration on the planet. And it’s the job of Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife Ranger, Tommy Nichols, to help protect them - by keeping the crocodiles away from people. Attacks on humans lead to calls to hunt crocs, and that’s the last thing that Tommy wants.

Tommy and his team regularly patrol 20 crocodile traps they’ve set around the harbour. Rogue animals are sometimes relocated, or are taken to a farm for breeding or commercial use. It’s a tricky balance between protecting people and protecting a species. 

Like crocs, snakes are hard to love. But in Outback towns like Katherine, they are a fact of life.

Located 300 kilometres to the south of Darwin, ten thousand people tread the border here between the desert and the tropics. And in a single year about 500 of them will call David Reed, or “Reedy” to his mates.

He’s only 21-years-old, but he has the government contract to remove Katherine’s unwanted snakes, which count among the most deadly in the world. In Alice Springs,

Justin Rutherford is another who cares for the unique reptiles and mammals of Australia’s Red Centre. And what’s more, he doesn’t earn a cent for it. Justin is a volunteer, happy to be called out at any time of the day or night to help a Thorny Devil or Red Kangaroo joey in trouble.

But it’s in Beerwah, Queensland, that is home to Australia’s most extraordinary vet clinic. The Australian Wildlife Hospital is a non-stop, 24-hour, MASH-style emergency ward. (Source: outbackwildliferescue.com.au/)