Yahoo – AFP,
August 24, 2017
Australian prisoners are caring for animals that have been abandoned, attacked by predators, hit by cars or even seized in a drug bust as part of a rehabilitation programme. (AFP Photo/SAEED KHAN) |
Sydney
(AFP) - Australian prisoners are caring for animals that have been abandoned,
attacked by predators, hit by cars or even seized in a drug bust as part of a
rehabilitation programme.
Kangaroos,
emus, wombats, snakes and cockatoos are just some of the native creatures being
nursed back to health by inmates at a wildlife centre based in the John Morony
Correctional Complex outside Sydney.
Officials
say the scheme helps instil a sense of responsibility and develops life skills
for offenders preparing for the outside world.
"Animals
show that (love and respect) unconditionally, they don't judge, so over time
they (inmates) form relationships with the animals," the wildlife centre's
senior officer Ian Mitchell told AFP.
"It is
a real positive impact and the animals can actually sometimes help people
heal."
Selected
inmates are given responsibility for a particular enclosure and are expected to
feed and build shelters for the animals, while being taught how to care for
their injuries or condition.
Some
animals never leave as they would be vulnerable to predators having become
accustomed to the enclosure.
But most
are later released back into the wild, or found a home via the animal rescue
organisation that first brought them there.
One of the
more unlikely cases the centre handled was a python that was seized in a drug
raid, with criminals holding the reptile as a deterrent.
The snake
had become addicted to meth after absorbing the narcotic through its skin and
required treatment before it was released back into the wild.
"To
have watched an animal rehabilitate from something like that, it's just another
dynamic," Mitchell says.
Some former
offenders who have left prison continue to work with wildlife, with one
teaching people how to handle venomous snakes.
Surrounded
by about a dozen squawking white cockatoos -- known for their ability to mimic
speech -- one inmate said he had discovered "a lot of caring I didn't know
I had" working with the animals.
Tasked with
feeding the nocturnal wildlife, like the possums and wombats, he added he hopes
to continue to care for animals after his jail term ends.
"I'm
going to miss this place," he said.
"Each
corner you turn, you are greeted -- in their way.
"The
ones that can talk will say 'hello' but the other ones that can't talk, they
will make a sign to say g'day."
Australian prison rehabilitates inmates by having them care for native animals that have been abandoned or attacked https://t.co/e9HE1pG7qm pic.twitter.com/9d0AMqUzQO— AFP news agency (@AFP) August 24, 2017
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