However, recently I received an unusual call out, the elderly Malaysian man had tried many numbers but was turned away by everyone including the RSPCA apparently (boo hiss). NAR passed him on to me and it was some surprise for me to be wrangling a Peacock or peafowl to be more precise.

Lost and sick it most certainly was, and he (yes, a male although lacking his bright tail plumage) even though it's not native was given shelter at NAR.

Alan, the caller, at 75 was grateful for its removal from his garden. Seeing the snake signs on my van he told me a bit of his surveying days in Malaysia, recounted having to deal with staff members bitten by snakes in the jungle by applying tourniquets and bleeding the bite sites.

So an interesting trip for me, interesting man and an interesting animal- sadly the peafowl didn't make it, but at least it had a medicated pain and stress free ending.

Strangely enough just before posting this I was called out to rescue another peacock, this time from a restaurant in the Swan Valley. This healthy bird is now strutting its stuff at Caversham Wildlife Park.

Wouldn't it be great to rediscover a species?

We have many ongoing extinctions to deal with in Australia and a good news story would be, well, good news. Cryptozoology is a branch of zoology not taken seriously by many, they look for the yeti and loch ness monster, creatures of myth and legend, things not scientifically recognised until a specimen is acquired. They also sometimes search for what's recently been lost, like the Tassie tiger.

The flexible pink dorsal shell is attached to the top of the creature and acts as protective armour; the rest of its body is covered in white fur.

They live entirely underground and are found in the deserts and scrubby grasslands of central Argentina.

At the other extreme the Giant Armadillo (Priodontes maximus) can be 1.5m long and weighs in at over 50kg. Armadillos are placental mammals and some 21 species are found only in the Americas, particularly South America.

The Aztec word for them "ayotochtli" means turtle rabbit. They have protective leathery armour, can run fast and burrow at speed to escape predators.

Sadly if startled, one of their defensive strategies is to leap 1 metre vertically into the air bringing them into lethal contact with cars and trucks. As a result armadillos are common road kill in many parts of their range.

But in the real world, especially in developing countries like Peru and Ecuador there is little government money to assist such ideals. Indeed just like here, more money is available to cultivate the land than protect it.

Cue some popular colourful pet frogs. Enthusiasts started to breed them in situ - and ship them to Canada and the USA as pets. With some income they were then able to purchase some of the frogs habitat and pay a local family to manage it.

How I wish we could do more of that here with sustainable farming of native species as pets. It helps the local economy, helps conserve precious habitat, and guarantees, we hope, these frogs for example will never be faced with extinction.

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Ray Dearlove is a retired South African living here who has founded the Australian Rhino Project and hopes to bring 6 in by 2017 and many more in the following years.

The threat to Rhinos is just massive, an unrelenting train of death as poachers go to great lengths to acquire the valuable horn for clients in Vietnam and elsewhere. Over 1,300 were killed last year alone.

South Africa has a remnant population now of only 20,000 down from the hundreds of thousands that once roamed Africa. Adult rhinos have no natural predator other than man.

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In 1986 after a nuclear plant exploded in Chernobyl Ukraine an exclusion zone of some 2,600km² was established. Over 116,000 residents were eventually evacuated and the entire area is gradually being reclaimed by nature.

Grasses and forest now cover the streets and pavements where many wild animals now find sanctuary. Przewalski's horse, Eurasian lynx, moose, deer, wolves and bison are some that appear to have benefited, but contamination has led to many birth defects, and abnormalities and increases in feral cat and dog populations from abandoned pets.

Wild Bilbies are now confined to the deserts of central Australia and some fenced managed reserves, they were once widespread and common across a range of habitats. Competition from grazing animals, man and of course our famous feral cats and foxes have greatly reduced their numbers to endangered status.

They dig and live in extensive burrows and may have multiple burrows within a ‘home range'. The burrows are sometimes shared with adults and juveniles coexisting, otherwise they appear to be quite solitary creatures by nature.

Bilbies emerge at night when it is cooler to feed on insects and their larvae, spiders, fungi, fruits, bulbs, seeds and even small animals. They do not need to drink water, obtaining moisture from the foods they eat. Bilbies breed between March and May but captive ones can breed at any time, which no doubt increases the chance of the species survival through captive breeding programmes. Unfortunately little government cash or effort goes into protecting our native species and the habitats they occupy. I doubt the environment will feature much if at all in our forthcoming election.