Animal shelter operators Kym and Richard Henley return to their Harrogate property after Cudlee Creek fire, find animals all alive
A Harrogate couple were forced to flee the weekend’s bushfires with just their house pets. They returned fearing the worst – but found all the animals at their sanctuary had survived.
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Despite flames coming within metres of them as a bushfire ripped through their home on Friday, Freedom Hill Sanctuary’s resident pigs Audrey, Willow, Holly, Pearl and Alice were more concerned that the incident had delayed their breakfast.
“’About time you came home to feed us,’ that’s what it was (like), Why are you so late?” Sanctuary owner Kym Henley, who runs the animal shelter with her husband Richard, said.
The cheeky pigs were among more than 100 rescued, orphaned or abandoned farm animals who were lucky to survive as a blaze scorched paddocks, trees and fences at their not-for-profit Harrogate sanctuary. But now they need a new home.
Having been through two previous bushfires, Mr and Mrs Henley had planned to sell their Adelaide Hills property and move their menagerie to a property at Monarto South to minimise their risk.
They had hoped to have been at their new home before this summer but have been unable to raise the funds to make the move.
In the wake of Friday’s fire, the couple set up an online fundraiser on Saturday in the hope of raising the $100,000 they need to build fences and buy other necessities for the Monarto South property. And the community is answering their call for help – more than $40,000 has been raised so far.
“It’s incredible,” Mrs Henley said. “I never expected it.”
Mr and Mrs Henley and a team of volunteers were at the sanctuary on Sunday, trying to fix fences and continuing to assess the damage.
The couple was forced to flee with just their “house animals” – nine cats, four dogs and a bird – on Friday as the bushfire approached the sanctuary.
Mrs Henley was devastated that there was not enough time to get their other animals - horses, cows, sheep and pigs - out before the fire swept through.
“It was just heartwrenching that we simply couldn’t do anything,” she said. “This (bushfire) just burnt so quickly.”
Returning to the property on Saturday morning, Mrs Henley feared the worst.
“The top paddock had been burnt out,” she said. “We couldn’t see any of the animals.”
But then, as they continued to drive through their property, the blackened ground began to dissipate and there in a paddock untouched by the flames were all of the sanctuary’s animals.
“The majority of (the fire) has gone around the perimeter of where the animals were,” Mrs Henley said. “It’s just incredible. It’s a miracle.”
Mrs Henley said not only were the animals unharmed, they also appeared completely unfazed by what they had just been through.
She said they were more worried about why they hadn’t been fed yet – the pigs were particularly vocal about their dismay, grunting at the pair as they arrived.
“They were all back there waiting for their breakfast,” Mrs Henley said.
Mrs Henley thanked the CFS volunteers who fought, and were continuing to fight, the fires.
She was also very grateful to all those who have contributed to the sanctuary’s fundraiser.