 |
| A burnt and sedated kangaroo being carried through the fog to a waiting vehicle and whisked away for treatment. |
As the wheels started turning on Sydney Wildlife’s Mobile
Clinic, so did those of many international jets, courier service vans, trade Utes, delivery vehicles and many more. As an
outpouring of shared grief and support, they flew, drove and tweeted to Australia
from everywhere you can imagine.
Rallying together, volunteer wildlife rescue groups in NSW
had the devastating responsibility of coordinating a bushfire response to the
worst fires in our country’s history.
Yet, just as life perseveres in the deepest smoulder, so
too does the resilience of the carers, the vets, the vet nurses, the knitters
and sewers, the drivers and the fire fighters. While Australian citizens fled
their homes to safety and animals fled their burning habitats into
unknown landscapes and unknown dangers, volunteer wildlife rescuers, with
assistance from all over the world, did their best to meet them with the medical
care they needed.
 |
With skilled trade and carpentry volunteers, we were able
to set up water stations, provide emergency triage centres and shelters and
rebuild destroyed rehabilitation enclosures and fencing.
Veterinary surgeons skilled in treating wildlife
volunteered to come and help animals with burns, infections, breaks and smoke
inhalation. Many animals were also suffering from dehydration and hadn’t eaten
in days. Many were orphaned having been separated from their mum in the
confusion, panic and terror from the smoke and flames. Thanks to caring hands and
the sharing of crucial knowledge and experience, there is a life in front of
them now, with friends and freedom and someone to watch over them.
 |
| The volunteers on board of the Sydney Wildlife Mobile Care Unit on it's maiden trip. |
Sydney Wildlife deployed their mobile wildlife mobile care unit the
very moment it came off the production line in December 2019. Fires had been
raging in multiple areas of the state
Sydney Wildlife’s mobile clinic is the product of a three
year project headed by Joan Reid and Lynleigh Greig, and supported by a number
of members over years of fundraising. Staffed by experienced local volunteer wildlife
vets, who kindly put their hands up to assist, at the end of the first week of
January, they headed into the fire grounds on the south coast to assist their
sister wildlife groups.
Simultaneously, Sydney Wildlife’s representative on the
NSW Wildlife Council, Sonja Elwood, offered to attempt to coordinate an
emergency response and accept the offers of international help from emergency
animal disaster response groups who had been offering assistance in the
previous weeks. This evolved over January and February into triage centres at
Wandandian, Cooma, Cathcart, Bredbo and the Blue Mountains and re-builds on
carers properties at Bendalong, Sassafras and Cooma.
 |
| Once of the triage centres in operation |
Quietly behind the scenes, Sydney Wildlife members, Sarah
Hylton and Margaret Woods, set about amassing and distributing enormous amounts
of much-needed medical and wildlife materials such as bandages, pouches and
medications - keeping the mobile clinic, triage centres and wildlife carers in
fire zones across Australia stocked with vital supplies.
Working in tandem with Anne Jackson who developed the very
clever initiative, Medi-Divert, last year where ex-hospital supplies that can
no longer be used but are un-used are gathered and re-distributed to wildlife
carers for animals in their care, rather than being thrown out into landfill.
 |
| Deb Kerr (Sydney Wildlife Rescue volunteer and RFS volunteer) with a Dingo she saved from the bush fires. |
Other members such as Debb Kerr, her husband and fellow member Jeremy, along with Jamie Illistom and Sian
Waythe, were also out there in the fire grounds fire-fighting or providing vital
logistical services at Incident Management centres.
As bushfires eased in some areas and grounds were cleared
by the RFS, Sydney Wildlife members, Sonja Elwood, Brendan and Lauren Scott
with the assistance of Wildlife Rescue and recovery and the International Fund
for Animal Welfare began rebuilds on wildlife carer’s properties that had lost
their rehabilitation facilities. Sadly these activities had to be curtailed due
to the advent of Covid-19 but as soon as possible these projects will continue.
 |
| HUHA volunteers from New Zealand |
Sydney Wildlife cannot express how grateful we are to our
membership, vets, vet nurses, darters, international emergency response groups such
as Helping You Help Animals New Zealand (HUH-NZ, Animal Emergency Disaster
Response Germany and Canada, Aussie Mobile Vets, Vets Beyond Border, Vets for
Compassion, Southern Cross Wildlife Care, Worldwide Veterinary Services, the
vets from Macquarie, Wollongong and Charles Stuart Universities and so many
individual vets both local and from overseas, our incredible donors, and craft
guilds who stepped up in such difficult conditions to assist and made this
possible. We apologise if we have missed anyone – we were blessed to find so
many willing to help us help our beloved wildlife. Whilst the losses in terms
of forest and wildlife are incalculable we have shown that an emergency
response is possible and are hopeful in the future the government will recognise
our efforts and assist our sector in future emergencies.