Bushfires: supporting the long-term recovery of Australia's animals

Header image credit: Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals Media

Our work so far

Our director of Animals in Disasters, Gerardo Huertas, and international response manager, Juan Carlos, travelled to Australia on the weekend of January 18. In coordination with Simone Clarke, our country director of Australia, they began assessing how we can best support with long-term recovery of animals.

Helping animals now and in the future

To help local organisations with the immediate response, we provided medical supplies to a mobile triage van, supporting the care of 21 kangaroos like Flame the female joey, pictured below.

A joey kangaroo named Flame who was burnt by the bushfires

The vets had to remove damaged tissue and foreign objects from her wounds and applied a laser treatment to help with the healing.

Flame is now with a carer and will be released into the wild when she has recovered and is ready.

Searching for survivors

We also supported the search for survivors in a bushfire-affected area through the use of a thermal imaging drone.

This assessment will also allow us to more accurately to identify the gaps in our current approach, calling on the government to increase protection, and preparedness to respond to disasters, for Australia’s unique animals, plants and environment.

Preparing for future disasters

For impacted and at-risk communities, we’ll expand our Protect Your Pet and PrepVet resources to support capacity building and preparedness for animals.

Over the coming months we’ll be working to change to legal frameworks, plans, policies and conventions to ensure animals are included in disaster planning.

Our work wouldn’t be possible without people like you who care so deeply for animals in need. Thank you!