Aussie Wildlife Recovery & Emergency Preparedness

Following Australia's devastating flood crisis which continues to cause devastation across vast areas, here is a summary of the Disaster Response and Recovery we deployed.

Preparation and Initial Relief 

Within days of the initial floods in March 2022, WIRES had contacted all of our Wildlife Carers across flood impacted areas and 20 external wildlife groups.   

Over a six-week period, we assisted wildlife carers spanning two states. Many carers were overwhelmed with rescue requests, had lost equipment and wildlife food in the floods and did not have finances available to replace what they urgently needed.  

Emergency Response in action 

Two Emergency Responders with two fully equipped Wildlife Ambulances were deployed to the most affected regions, to assist with emergency flood recovery. In addition, two Responders each equipped with a Wildlife Ambulance assisted with flood efforts in Sydney.

Their key role was to assist with the most critical rescues, and to transport and translocate rescued native animals, taking pressure off local carers and vet clinics so they could focus on recovery. 

Our Head Office Incident Management Team was activated to assist with the huge coordination of flood rescue efforts.  All teams worked closely to prioritise and respond to incoming flood rescue calls. 

Caring for Rescued Wildlife 

We’ll never know how many native animals were drowned in this ongoing flood crisis, but burrow and ground dwelling animals were particularly affected, and WIRES had record numbers of wombats in care. We also had significant numbers of waterlogged birds, and an increase in orphans across many species. 

Sometimes, native animals were simply displaced through flooding and needed time to dry out, rest and recuperate. 

We're committed to building the capacity of Wildlife Emergency Response and Recovery across Austraia and we thank you for all you've helped us do, and for all that we are now doing, to secure the survival of our native animals.

Your support is enabling critical help for koalas  

Every time a displaced, injured or sick koala is reported to our Wildlife Rescue Office we send out a Critical Alert so help can reach them without delay. With our koala populations besieged by habitat loss, increased traffic and the terrible impacts of chlamydia, we are now sending critical koala alerts almost every day and have assisted more than 650 desperate koalas in the past year. 

One such koala was Matty (pictured above), who was discovered in a back garden in Sydney last month. With his habitat all but gone, we believe the young koala was frightened by a dog and had tried to escape by scrambling over a fence and into the chimney of a BBQ, where he was discovered by a concerned member of the public.  

This little koala was one of the lucky ones. Whilst he was quite small for his suspected age (likely the result of a lack of available food trees) he is now recuperating with his WIRES carer and will hopefully be released back into protected habitat soon.  

Safe-guarding short-tailed Shearwaters on Philip Island  

Phillip Island in the state of Victoria is home to a colony of over a million native short-tailed shearwaters. This migratory bird is highly vulnerable to the impacts of global climate change and is in steady decline.   

On Philip Island they have an additional problem. Every year as young fledglings prepare for their first flight, they often make their way onto roads and are hit by cars.    

To mitigate this tragedy WIRES has contributed more than $49,800 as part of our National Grants Program to help rangers safeguard the population, particularly during the all-important fledgling season. The Rangers play a huge role in protecting these birds by moving them off the roads, and by making sure the community is aware of the birds through signage, slower speed limits and by encouraging ‘lights off’ in homes and businesses because the birds are often disorientated by light pollution. 

In the coming weeks, hundreds of fledging shearwaters will be leaving their burrows to make their first 15,000 km migration north to join their parents on the Aleutian Islands off the coast of Alaska. They will return to the Southern hemisphere within 5-7 years where they’ll contribute to the growing colony on Phillip Island. It takes a community to protect a highly vulnerable bird species! 

An ongoing food source for our native wildlife   

As part of a joint project with a local Council in the state of New South Wales, WIRES volunteers have been planting trees in a bid to provide local wildlife with an ongoing food source (pictured below). Council staff and WIRES volunteers recently planted over 300 native trees, which will soon provide vital nourishment to the injured and sick native animals in WIRES’ care. Increased development is causing a severe loss of habitat and food sources for our native wildlife so this team effort is a much-needed initiative. Let’s hope the idea takes off with other local councils!   

This is your work in action through supporting the Aussie Wildlife Recovery & Emergency Preparedness project - on behalf of the 130,000 native animals you helped us assist in the last year, thank you!

Links:

• WIRES Website
• WIRES Instagram
• WIRES Facebook