03/01/2020
Our hearts are aching.
Aching for this beautiful country we are watching turn to ash before our eyes.
For the people who have lost their lives, and the families left behind.
For the hundreds of millions of native animals who never stood a chance.
For the countless other animals – the cattle, sheep, horses, chickens, goats… the sheer scale of suffering and devastation of these catastrophic fires sweeping across the country is like nothing we have seen before.
To the many people who have contacted us asking what they can do to help, thank you. We share your anguish and understand your feelings of helplessness. We are providing immediate support to expert wildlife vets from Vets For Compassion to travel to fire-devastated Mallacoota in Victoria to assist local carers dealing with injured koalas. We are also working with authorities and organisations that are on the ground, so that we can determine the most effective way for Animals Australia to provide direct and meaningful assistance to animals affected by the fires. We are urgently working on this plan and will reveal further details as they are finalised.
While this is a distressing time, everywhere we look we are seeing the very best of humanity – communities supporting each other, opening up their homes and properties, offering anything and everything they have to help others. And as thousands are forced to flee for their lives, we see firefighters running toward the danger – literally into deadly fires, some to never return. The bravery, compassion and sacrifice of emergency services workers is unmatched, and we stand with the rest of Australia in extending our deepest gratitude to these heroes.
If you are wishing to help animals affected by the fires, Animals Australia is taking donations for Vets for Compassion to assist their efforts to reach and provide expert care for affected wildlife in Victoria.
🐨 Help us channel funds to emergency vets and carers who are on the ground in bushfire-ravaged Mallacoota: http://animalsaus.org/D1b
Alternatively, please direct your support to other groups involved in wildlife rescue and rehabilitation. As with any bushfire emergency, the hardest work is yet to come in the weeks and months ahead as rescue teams are allowed access to firegrounds in search of surviving animals emerging in search of food. Wildlife rescuers and carers will require massive sustained support beyond this initial crisis period as they provide the intensive and ongoing care that is required with bushfire victims.
🐨 WIRES (NSW) http://bit.ly/2NF7cSi
🐨 Wildlife Victoria http://bit.ly/2rNKI9u
🐨 Fauna Rescue SA http://bit.ly/2QMQr7X
These organisations distribute funds to carers across the states and provide direct emergency assistance on the ground
There are remarkable people everywhere who are doing all they can for wildlife while their own homes and wildlife shelters burn around them — carers who have lost everything who are heading out with only the clothes on their backs to help injured and burned animals, and to do food drops for survivors, and to alleviate their suffering. If you can, please be as generous as possible to these remarkable individuals.
🐨 Donate directly to a wildlife shelter. Find a list at Backyard Buddies: http://bit.ly/36YIa8n
Domestic animals like sheep and cattle that have managed to survive will likely require emergency veterinary intervention and food and water provision, so will require ongoing assistance and support too – we will update more on this when we can.
For other ways to support frontline services, this article provides a list of suggestions: https://ab.co/2ZJQLZa
And of course, one small thing everyone can continue to do is to make sure that fresh water is freely available to birds and wildlife in their area – so please, make sure you leave water bowls out and keep them filled constantly for the next few months. 💦
This time of climate emergency will require all of us to come together now more than ever to forge a path forward, and to develop meaningful solutions to the increasingly dangerous & volatile world in which we live.
But right now, there are people and animals whose lives are at stake and need all the help and support we can give them. Please, look after each other, and support rescue and emergency efforts in any capacity you are able.
