On World Wildlife Day (3 March 2026) Australia\u2019s first and only mobile wildlife hospital began a journey that aims to reshape how wildlife veterinary care is delivered across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Affectionately known as Matilda, the 22-wheel mobile veterinary hospital operated by Wildlife Recovery Australia (WRA) departed its Northern Rivers base to begin a national tour that will span thousands of kilometres and multiple states, regions and territories. While the journey is designed to raise national awareness about Australia\u2019s wildlife care crisis, the tour is also a clinical mission \u2014 delivering veterinary care to sick, injured and orphaned wildlife presented by rescue organisations along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For veterinarians and veterinary nurses working in wildlife medicine, the tour represents an important demonstration of what mobile veterinary infrastructure can achieve when paired with clinical teams expert in the physiology and anatomy of wildlife and strong partnerships with local carers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Matilda is licensed as a veterinary hospital and contains almost all the diagnostic and surgical capabilities found in fixed facilities, including imaging, anaesthesia, endoscopy, pathology and a sterile surgical theatre. Designed as a deployable wildlife treatment centre, it was originally built in 2020 and has treated thousands of patients in northern New South Wales. With the opening of a permanent wildlife hospital at Lennox Head in 2025, the mobile facility can now be deployed more freely to support wildlife care beyond its original catchment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The national tour is the first large-scale activation of that capability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDuring the first week of the tour, our veterinary team has already begun working alongside wildlife rescue groups at several regional locations,\u201d WRA Founder and CEO Dr Stephen Van Mil said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cStops have included the Coffs Coast Wildlife Sanctuary, Secret Creek Sanctuary and its new Wollemi Wildlife Hospital in the Blue Mountains, and the Southern Highlands Wildlife Sanctuary at Bundanoon. At each location, the mobile hospital has opened for wildlife admissions, allowing local carers to present injured or unwell native animals for assessment and treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This collaborative model is central to the tour\u2019s objectives. Across Australia, wildlife rescue and rehabilitation relies heavily on volunteer carers and veterinarians who provide care on a largely unfunded basis. By travelling directly to wildlife-rich regions and working alongside established rescue networks, the Matilda team aims to strengthen clinical support where it is often stretched thin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the veterinary team on board, the journey also offers a rare opportunity to treat a broader range of species and cases than those typically seen in a single region. Road trauma, infectious disease, environmental stressors and habitat loss all contribute to the steady flow of wildlife admissions across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beyond its clinical function, the tour also carries a policy message. Wildlife Recovery Australia is using the journey to advocate for the development of a coordinated national wildlife care framework \u2014 one that recognises wildlife rescue, treatment and rehabilitation as essential environmental infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the tour continues, Matilda will travel to Canberra for briefings with policymakers at Parliament House before heading on to Tasmania, South Australia, Western Australia before her return journey through Victoria, Sydney and more of regional New South Wales. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The tour highlights both the scale of the challenge facing Australia\u2019s native fauna and the important role the veterinary profession plays in responding to it. By taking veterinary capability directly to the field \u2014 and working alongside the carers who are often first on the scene \u2014 the Matilda tour demonstrates how clinical expertise, mobility and collaboration is an essential public service for wildlife care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a country where wildlife is intrinsic to culture, ecology and economy this capability may prove increasingly vital. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To support Wildlife Recovery Australia’s call for a National Framework, visit isupportwildlife.com.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On World Wildlife Day (3 March 2026) Australia\u2019s first and only mobile wildlife hospital began a journey that aims to reshape how wildlife veterinary care is delivered across the country. Affectionately known as Matilda, the 22-wheel mobile veterinary hospital operated by Wildlife Recovery Australia (WRA) departed its Northern Rivers base to begin a national tour […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3774,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"rise-blocks_total_comments":0,"rise-blocks_categories":[{"term_id":5,"name":"News","slug":"news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":5,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":402,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":5,"category_count":402,"category_description":"","cat_name":"News","category_nicename":"news","category_parent":0}],"rise-blocks_excerpt":"On World Wildlife Day (3 March 2026) Australia\u2019s first and only mobile wildlife hospital began a journey that aims to reshape how wildlife veterinary care is delivered across the country. Affectionately known as Matilda, the 22-wheel mobile veterinary hospital operated by Wildlife Recovery Australia (WRA) departed its Northern Rivers base to begin a national tour that will span thousands of..","blog_post_layout_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Wildlife-Recovery-Australia-Hospital-aka-Matilda-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"full":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Wildlife-Recovery-Australia-Hospital-aka-Matilda.jpg",2500,1692,false]},"categories_names":{"5":{"name":"News","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?cat=5"}},"tags_names":[],"comments_number":"0","wpmagazine_modules_lite_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Wildlife-Recovery-Australia-Hospital-aka-Matilda-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"cvmm-medium":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Wildlife-Recovery-Australia-Hospital-aka-Matilda-300x300.jpg",300,300,true],"cvmm-medium-plus":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Wildlife-Recovery-Australia-Hospital-aka-Matilda-305x207.jpg",305,207,true],"cvmm-portrait":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Wildlife-Recovery-Australia-Hospital-aka-Matilda-400x600.jpg",400,600,true],"cvmm-medium-square":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Wildlife-Recovery-Australia-Hospital-aka-Matilda-600x600.jpg",600,600,true],"cvmm-large":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Wildlife-Recovery-Australia-Hospital-aka-Matilda-1024x1024.jpg",1024,1024,true],"cvmm-small":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Wildlife-Recovery-Australia-Hospital-aka-Matilda-130x95.jpg",130,95,true],"full":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Wildlife-Recovery-Australia-Hospital-aka-Matilda.jpg",2500,1692,false]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3773"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3775,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3773\/revisions\/3775"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}