Out of the ashes: volunteer nursing Australia’s bushfire affected native wildlife – part I

Abstract

The Australian Summer of 2019–2020 has brought us our worst bushfire season ever recorded, covering approximately 14 million hectares (34.6 million acres) of countryside, an area equivalent to almost 60% of the UK. A current estimate of losses includes 33 human lives, 3,000 homes and over I billion animals (wildlife, farm and domestic animals), including 8,000 koalas. Many of our native species were already threatened or endangered prior to the fires; their populations have now been decimated and their territories and food sources have been destroyed, leading to the starvation of many initial survivors.

Wildlife carers have been overrun with injured and orphaned wildlife, with assistance coming from numerous individuals and organisations within Australia and overseas. One such group is the Australian-based international animal charity Vets Beyond Borders (VBB) and its Australian Veterinary Emergency Response Team (AVERT).

Keywords: :

• volunteering
• veterinary nursing
• Australian wildlife
• bushfires
• burns treatment
• macropods

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank AVERT/Vets Beyond Borders and HuhaNZ for the opportunity to volunteer at Wandandian, and Jetstar for providing free flights. Special thanks also to Adrina at the Wandandian Kangaroo and Wallaby Sanctuary, for opening up her home and for teaching me so much, and to the other hardworking people at Wildlife Rescue South Coast Inc. as well as the rest of our veterinary team (Justin and Bekk) and visitors who helped to make a devastating event an opportunity for people to step up and contribute their best.

I would like to donate payment for these articles to the Wandandian Kangaroo and Wallaby Sanctuary: anyone wishing to donate to them directly can do so via www.wildlife-rescue.org.au/ Both the sanctuary and Wildlife Rescue South Coast Inc. (to which the sanctuary belongs) can be found on Facebook. Treatment and rehabilitation of bushfire-affected patients, and raising of joeys to a weight necessary for them to survive upon release, takes many months and requires substantial ongoing resources. Thank you.

Disclosure statement

The author is a financial member of Vets Beyond Borders.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Candice Drew

Candice Drew ISFM DipFN, DipVN(surg), DipT(EC), RVN

Candice qualified as a veterinary nurse in Australia in 2005, being awarded the Novartis Award for Outstanding Achievement in Veterinary Nursing in her qualifying year. She has worked extensively in Australia and the UK, primarily in referral nursing (Emergency & Critical Care). She attained the Diploma of Veterinary Nursing (surgical) in 2009, qualified as a trainer & assessor in 2015, and completed the ISFM Diploma in Feline Nursing in 2018. Candice is interested in most aspects of veterinary nursing but her passions are feline nursing, ECC, working with students (and wildlife nursing!) In January - February 2020, Candice was deployed to Wandandian and to Cooma, NSW as a VBB/AVERT volunteer.

Email: [email protected]