Tracy cared for hundreds of injured kangaroos. One case led to a criminal conviction

A former WIRES volunteer convicted of aggravated animal cruelty over her care of an injured kangaroo has vowed to appeal, saying the decision puts all wildlife carers at risk.

Magistrate Leanne Robinson sentenced Tracy Dods, 55, of Kanimbla in Windsor Court on Wednesday, having found her guilty in March.

Tracy Dods outside Katoomba Local Court on an earlier hearing date.Credit: Nick Moir

The case involved a four-year-old female eastern grey kangaroo named Dolores, who was found hanging on a barbed wire fence with lacerations to her legs in October 2020. WIRES asked Dods to care for the animal at her property in the Blue Mountains, which she did for four months, including a visit to the vet in January 2021.

The RSPCA, which attended a raid alongside WIRES in March 2021, prosecuted Dods for not seeking necessary veterinary care for Dolores and keeping the animal in a state of suffering that required immediate euthanasia.

Dods had a conviction recorded, was placed on a six-month community correction order requiring good behaviour, banned from owning or taking care of animals for five years, and was ordered to pay costs of just under $27,000.

Robinson did not fine Dods and the RSPCA had not sought jail time. The maximum penalty for aggravated animal cruelty in NSW is $110,000 and/or two years’ imprisonment for an individual.

Dods, who cared for hundreds of injured kangaroos as a WIRES volunteer for five years, said she was “stunned” to receive a conviction of animal cruelty and “a bit overcome with how the law works”.

She was giving away her wildlife care equipment and dismantling her enclosures and did not intend to ever return to volunteering.

“It’s changed my life,” Dods said.

Dods, an animal lover, previously owned two dogs and a flock of chickens who died of old age while the four-year legal ordeal was in progress. She did not replace them in case she lost the case.

Dolores sustained injuries on a barbed wire fence in October 2020.

A large group of wildlife carers supported Dods throughout more than two and a half years of legal proceedings and 54 wrote character references and other submissions considered by the magistrate in her sentencing.

At Windsor Court on Wednesday, about 30 wildlife volunteers stood outside the court with signs that read “an attack against one is an attack against all”, “wildlife carers need support, no prosecution” and “use donors’ money to support wildlife carers”.

Dods said it was “amazing” to have the support and it made her determined to appeal.

“Whenever a wildlife carer in the future is brought into court by the RSPCA, their judge will look at that precedent,” Dods said. “Because I was convicted of aggravated animal cruelty, they can be convicted as well, so we need to overturn that just to make it safer.”

RSPCA NSW chief inspector Scott Meyers acknowledged the vital role of wildlife carers and said the case was “not representative of the majority of wildlife carers who provide excellent care, often in close consultation with veterinary practitioners”.

“When performing their important role, carers must not lose sight of their core obligations under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, or substitute their own views for those of a registered veterinarian,” Meyers said.

The sentencing comes amid a protracted and messy battle between WIRES, the largest and wealthiest wildlife rescue charity in the country, and its members over constitutional changes and the control of the $100 million raised in the 2019-20 bushfires.

A NSW government review of the state’s wildlife rescue sector is ongoing.

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