Anita Trimarchi recounts the rescue of a six-foot kangaroo with two broken legs.
Wiping tears from her blue eyes she tells how it was hopping away faster than she could run, screaming in pain.
Her tattooed hand slips inside the fleecy-lined pouch on her lap. It’s hot. She opens it, revealing the pink ears, soft grey fur, and dark eyes of a baby redneck wallaby.
She looks down and smiles.
“If something’s alive you’ve got to make sure it doesn’t run off with its legs broken,” she said.
“You go into rescue mode and I don’t cry and I do what I’ve got to do.
“But you do fall apart after that because it is freaking terrible. Hearing something in pain is just the most horrific thing … seeing him half alive and suffering.”
For Anita, life’s about saving animals and ending suffering, whether it’s diving into a river to rescue an injured pelican or saving caged elephants and orangutans from cruelty in Asia.
Eight years ago, Anita realised she couldn’t afford to continue her rescue missions overseas.
Her father pointed out the beautiful wildlife here also needed help.
Since then it’s been all about preserving Australian wildlife for Anita.
Wildlife conservation is the focus of Australian Wildlife Week held during the first week of October, and the Australian Wildlife Society (AWS) is holding an online event.
According to AWS National Office Manager Megan Fabian, wildlife rescuers like Anita are crucial to animal conservation.
They step in, rescuing and “rehabilitating these animals, trying to do what they can to put them back out into their natural habitat. So their work is absolutely vital,” Megan said.
For Anita, 49, animals are the cornerstone of her life. She juggles paid work cleaning houses and managing the Yandina scout camp with rescuing and caring for wildlife.
With more than 20 animals in her care, a trip to the grocery shop must be slotted in between feeds. On the way home her eagle eye is on the lookout for flowers and other fresh foliage to feed the animals. Going to dinner is a family affair, with Anita sneaking out to the car to feed and check on her babies.
It’s common for the portable humidicrib to be on her passenger seat buckled in, with its occupant accompanying her on cleaning jobs, visits or rescues. It’s demanding but Anita said doing this makes her happy.
“I am busy. But this, these guys and doing this helps my soul, my heart. It makes me happy. It just keeps me going mentally,” she said.”
Anita, who suffers from depression, said saving animals saved her.
“It’s made me want to live,” she said.
Her depression began after her parents separated when she was seven years old.
Things went ‘pear shaped’ in her teens.
She developed anorexia then went to hard core drugs.
Combined with her depression, it was a toxic combination.
Anita says she ‘annihilated’ herself, not caring for or respecting herself. She didn’t know how to deal with things and didn’t want to be in a conscious state of mind.
Hospitalised many times, she is lucky to be alive.
She said seeing the pain she was causing her family turned her around.
“A lot of times I nearly didn’t make it. And the last time I woke up in hospital with my family looking at me going, ‘again’?
“I just looked at them and went, I can’t do this to them, I need to get my s*** together … something in me snapped and I worked at getting better.”
Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/scnews2020/
Anita’s love and care for animals helped her to kick her drug addiction and gain control over her anorexia.
She said she still struggles with depression and always will, but for the most part she can manage it now thanks to her animals.
They need her and she needs to be her best self for them.
Anita’s empathy and work with animals has saved hundreds, as well as saving her.
Get more Sunshine Coast News stories to your inbox by subscribing to our free daily news bulletin. All it requires is your name and email. See SUBSCRIBE at the top of this article.
She said her reward is seeing animals rehabilitated and released back into their habitats and ending suffering.
“It used to really wreck me, just tear me apart and it still does, but now I can do the rescue and I might have a little cry later on … but I know that I’ve helped them or stopped them being in pain.”
Anita is currently raising funds to purchase equipment to assist with the rescue and care of native wildlife through GoFundMe.
