For her 80th birthday, long-time Mandurah Wildlife Rescue volunteer Lilah Waterfield doesn’t want presents or cake: she wants to give a kangaroo joey its sight back.
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Ms Waterfield has volunteered with the rescue center for eight years, after meeting founder Dot Terry at a fundraiser.
“I felt so inspired by the wonderful work being carried out by the many dedicated volunteers helping to care for some of Australia’s native wildlife," Ms Waterfield said.
“Sadly some of our joeys have developed cataracts and need surgery so they need your help.”
Ms Waterfield said she hopes that the public, especially supporters of the Mandurah Wildlife Rescue, will grant her birthday wish and donate towards her fund for cataract surgery.
“It’s a marvelous operation, it’s different to the ones they do on humans… they don’t have to replace the lens, like they do in a human, they just remove it,” founder Ms Terry said.
A specialist eye vet from Perth, doctor Robert Harris, comes to Greenfields Vet once a week to do the cataract operations for pets and wildlife alike.
Though it is uncertain what is causing the cataracts, the issue only began to appear in the last two or three years.
The volunteers suspect it may be dietary, but research is still underway.
In the meantime, the operations are an expense the Wildlife Rescue centre struggles with.
“It’s a big drain on us… we’ve never had financial problems before, until these cataracts started coming, because it’s such a big cost,” Ms Waterfield said.
“We do have big food bills and different things, but I have stressed that this is a separate thing, this is the birthday wish of an old lady.
“This has been my therapy for eight years, and they deserve it, they deserve a chance.”
Ms Waterfield asks the public to make donations to:
Mandurah Wildlife Hospital
BSB: 633000. Account number: 123 283 533. Ref: HB80.