Alumna rescues wildlife down under

Laurie Salzler ’80 has gone to the aid of kangaroos to currawongs in Australia for more than a decade.

The drop-off happened two days aft er she completed training in wildlife care. Laurie Salzler ’80 had a red-necked, furless baby wallaby on her hands and no heating pad or other equipment.

“So the poor thing spent the night inside my shirt until someone retrieved it the next morning. Needless to say, the experience was incredibly magical,” she said.

Laurie became a volunteer for the Australian Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Services aft er moving to New South Wales in 2014. She learned to care for birds, sea turtles, koalas and macropods, a reference to marsupials like kangaroos and wallabies.

Pinky joeys, or baby marsupials without fur, require intensive care. Her interest in wildlife rescue and rehabilitation started at FLCC, where she majored in natural resources conservation. She also competed on the woodsmen – now logging sports – team and served as president of the Conservation Club.

“Chris White was my advisor while I was at CCFL,” she said, using the College’s original name, Community College of the Finger Lakes. “One day he came in with an orphaned raccoon whose mother had been killed on the road and offered it to me to raise. The desire to be more involved with wildlife grew from that experience.”

Laurie decided to move to Australia aft er vacationing there.

“I took a two-week holiday here and just fell in love with the culture, and the diversity of wildlife. Shortly thereafter, I talked to my dad about moving here. He told me to do it if I wanted, I could always come back to the U.S. But the most important thing was to live life without the regret of not trying.”

Since her training, Laurie has rescued a wide range of birds, including hawks, eagles, honeyeaters, doves, magpies, parrots, butcherbirds, currawongs, and pardalotes.

Laurie has raised 96 macropods, often taking the “pinkies,” meaning babies with no fur. “Their care is very intensive, with feeds up to five or six times a day, round the clock. It wasn’t unusual for me to have five in care at a time.”

More recently, she has cut back to monitoring and rescuing the koalas in her town. When not rescuing wildlife or writing, Laurie spends time with her four dogs, two Vizslas, a kelpie cross and a Jack Russell, and riding her horse.

“One of my best koala moments was releasing a female who’d been in hospital for several months. I’d initially rescued her from a residence with a very big dog. She was rushed up to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary where she had surgery. Prince Phillip was in attendance to witness some of the surgery. From there, she spent her recovery time at Australia Zoo. Named Viv, she eventually came back, and I released her in an area where she was monitored. Thereafter, she visited a friend's backyard gum tree annually with that year’s joey.”

In 2022, Australia listed koalas as endangered in New South Wales, Queensland, and the Australian Capital Territory. Drought and bushfires, worsened by climate change, and development reduces their habitat. Stress makes them vulnerable to diseases, and they increasingly contend with dog attacks and car strikes.

“I am also the team leader for my branch's Volunteer Emergency Response Team. We get called out to search for wildlife after a bushfire area is declared safe, but we can also be involved assisting in floods, as well as heat events where large numbers of flying foxes are affected. They are highly susceptible to extreme heat, which can lead to mass mortality.”

More about Laurie

Laurie developed an affinity for more than wildlife at FLCC.

“My English professor tried to get me to change my major from natural resources conservation to English literature after reading the stories I'd submitted in her class. I promised her I would someday write a book. It took 20 years, but I got it done ... then I just kept writing.”

Laurie published her first novel “A Kiss Before Dawn” in 2012.

She has since released four more contemporary women’s fiction titles, a young adult novel, two illustrated children’s books, and “Eye of the Beholder,” a book of musings and photography.

She is currently working on her first murder mystery.

Read the Laker online Laurie's story is featured in the fall 2025 Laker magazine for alumni and friends of the College. Read the Laker online.

Alumni are encouraged to submit Class Notes for the spring edition by using the online form. Please share, in particular, information about alumni-owned businesses, including restaurants, professional or trade services, and retail shops.

Back issues of the Laker magazine are also in the alumni section of the FLCC website.

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