Veterinarians are ‘a profession in grief’ over Australia’s horror bushfire season

Australia’s veterinarians have been hit both financially and emotionally by our horror bushfire season. But help is on its way.

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Australia’s horror bushfire season has left the nation’s vets a “profession in grief,” the head of the peak body representing them said.

President of the Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) Dr Julia Crawford said vets had been grieving over having to euthanase injured animals, dealing with the loss of income from what would otherwise be their busiest season, and in some cases damage to their own clinics and communities.

The impact on the mental health of vets is also a cause for serious concern. Vets are four times more likely than the general population and twice as likely as other health professionals to commit suicide, owing to the psychological stresses they face on the job.

RSPCA SA vet Dr Lauren Eyre attends to an injured koala on Kangaroo Island. Picture: RSPCA South Australia

A new phone and Skype service offering free psychological support for veterinary and wildlife carers was launched on Tuesday, led by the profession’s wellbeing charity Love Your Pet Love Your Vet with the Australian Association of Psychologists Inc.

Psychologist and charity founder Dr Nadine Hamilton said vets “may already be overwhelmed” by what they had seen and experienced.

“The situation faced by our veterinary and wildlife carers as a result of the fires will no doubt be adding additional psychological stress, but there is support available. Don’t suffer in silence when it’s not necessary,” she said.

AAPi Executive Director Tegan Carrison said the organisation had been “overwhelmed by the number of psychologists offering their time and expertise to help those on the frontline”.

“There is no doubt that we will be seeing the psychological ripple effects of this disaster for weeks, months and years to come, so the sooner people seek help the better,” Ms Carrison said.

AAPi Executive Director Tegan Carrison. Picture: Supplied

Psychologist and founder of Love Your Pet Love Your Vet Dr Nadine Hamilton. Picture: Supplied

Besides the mental health toll, Dr Crawford said many vets would be taking an economic hit.

Some 250 clinics were currently without power and 90 had been “seriously affected” by the bushfires, she said.

“In a lot of these clinics most of their income comes from the summer months,” Dr Crawford said. “They want to look after their communities as much as possible but they’re experiencing their own difficulties. Vets usually do wildlife work free of charge, which works really well in a normal season, but this has been devastating economically.”

WIRES (NSW Wildlife Information and Rescue Service) announced on Tuesday it would work with the AVA to provide $1 million in funding to support clinics affected by the bushfire crisis.

“Nationally, vets provide vital support to the wildlife sector and we want to ensure that veterinary hospitals/clinics operating within fire affected regions or providing specialist services are well supported to assist with rehabilitation efforts,” WIRES CEO Leanne Taylor said.

Australian vets had been responding to the crisis since the first blazes in October, but it quickly became apparent that the first responders needed “skills to shoot or dart … to put animals out of their suffering,” Dr Crawford said.

RSPCA SA Chief Inspector Andrea Lewis tends to an injured koala on Kangaroo Island. Picture: RSPCA South Australia

President of the Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) Dr Julia Crawford.

Although there had been no count of the number of animals that had been cared for by vets during the bushfires, treatment for smoke inhalation and burns had been most common. Animals had sustained burns to paws and other extremities when scampering over burning vegetation.

The treatment for burns on animals was “pretty similar to humans, except we make a call on their suffering,” Dr Crawford said.

Andrea Lewis, Chief Inspector for RSPCA South Australia, said she and a vet and a spotter had just spent five days on “apocalyptic” Kangaroo Island, where they had been confronted by as many as 800 dead koalas, and a similar number of wallabies and kangaroos.

The decision to euthanase an animal in the wild was usually made between a vet and an inspector, she said, “and quite often those decisions are very clear”.

RSPCA SA Chief Inspector Andrea Lewis spots a survivor on Kangaroo Island. Picture: RSPCA South Australia

Ms Lewis said in some cases, she and her team had come across kangaroos whose flesh had burned all the way down to the bone.

“Nobody wants to see an animal that’s suffering. In those cases, you’re almost pleased to be able to relive it,” she said.

If there was one positive to emerge out of the crisis in South Australia, it was the sense that most families had included their domestic animals in their bushfire action plans.

“People were including pets as part of their family. The number of domestic pets that were affected were minimal. That was the one thing that was pleasing out of this,” she said.

Originally published as Veterinarians are ‘a profession in grief’ over Australia’s horror bushfire season