Koalas suffering severe burns, dehydration and starvation silent victims of the Cudlee Creek fires
Animal rescuers have been inundated with calls to help wildlife injured in South Australia’s bushfires, but the busy volunteers expect their work to become much harder.
SA News
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Dozens of severely burnt, starving and dehydrated koalas currently in care in the wake of the Cudlee Creek bushfires are just the beginning of the job for wildlife volunteers working tirelessly to retrieve and care for injured animals.
Rachel Westcott, South Australian Veterinary Emergency Management founder and rescue co-ordinator, said she’s been receiving dozens of calls to injured koalas everyday, but the worst was yet to come.
“The burnt wildlife are starting to come out from hiding looking for food and water,” Dr Westcott said.
“That’s when we see their injuries.”
Scores of koalas have been euthanised from severe burns fires so far, Dr Westcott said, but at this stage the total number was unclear.
Jane Brister, from Adelaide Koala Rescue, said she had also been inundated with calls as a result of the fires, and is currently caring for 46 koalas in their koala rescue centre.
“We’re not usually dealing with this scale (of rescued koalas) … we don’t normally have 46 at one time,” Ms Brister said.
“A big problem we’re noticing now is koalas are coming in starving … there’s just no food.
“And part of the problem is there’s often at least four days until someone finds them.”
But Ms Brister said she was grateful for the community’s generosity in offering help as they attempt to rescue as many koalas they can.
Wildlife rescue organisations now have new fears with more hot weather forecast for coming days.
“I think with the heatwave, it will wipe out a lot of the survivors,” Ms Brister said.
Adelaide Hills Koala Rescue founder Kim Hunter said the fires created additional demand for already busy rescuers.
“Because of the severe heat we were already getting inundated … but then Hell broke loose when the fires broke out,” Ms Hunter said.
She told The Advertiser rescuers were frustrated in the peak of the fire due to limited access to areas with burned koalas.
1300Koalaz, another rescue group, has been referring its cases to SAVEM after visiting fire grounds to perform welfare checks on animals.
Professor Chris Daniels, from Cleland Wildlife Park said his team has three fire-affected koalas currently in care but is preparing for up to 20 being dropped off in the coming days.
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