Animal Welfare - Victorian Bushfires Report VICTORIAN BUSHFIRES Feb 2009 By Dr Elaine Ong Background Marysville- 2 buildings standing On Saturday night on the 7th of February , a series of devastating fires in Victoria led to a Statewide emergency that has been unprecedented in terms of loss of life ( both human and animals) and loss of habitat for millions of animals Nearly 200 people perished in the fires, scores injured Over 100,000 animals were killed directly and an estimated 100,000 injured , many fatally inculding wildlife In total there were at least 15 separate class 2-3 fires around the state Sadly many of these animals esp wildlife , were not euthanased till 2 months after the fires My husband Chris ( VBB member) and I were travelling home from visiting my parents overseas Arriving in transit in Sydney on Sunday morning, I turned on my phone to find 30 messages , from Vets and nurses , friend and families of vets and nurses, and vets/nurses wanting to volunteer to help but not able to because no one was allowed to enter the zone and no official Body coordinating Rescue. Several vets rang, as they were evacuating the disaster ones, because they saw animals on fire running away. Many of these people still need counselling to this day One Vet lost his life during this fire and One lost his home and another his livelihood, his vet clinic Darting injured deer in Humevale Working closely alongside Widlife Victoria we organized volunteer vets and nurses as quickly as we could to areas such as King Lake Marysville, and Redesdale and set up Triage centres We knew the magnitude of the emergency was too big for us to handle Dr Chris Barton, Dr Charles Foster and I submitted a proposal to AVA Victoria and National set up a Base for us to work from and to take leadership From there the AVA VET Task Force was formed ( Veterinary Emergency Team) comprising of 6 volunteers including. Dr Norm Blackman ex AVA President to Chair the Task Force Over the next 3 months The following was achieved:- I managed to forge a Collaboration with the following:- Volunteers from my data base, which grew Zoos Victoria through Head Vets Dr Helen Mc Cracken and Dr Rupert Baker ( Heaslveille Sanctuary) Wildlife Victoria Lort Smith AnimalHospital Veterinary surgeons from around the State who offered assistance Darting & euthanasia of injured kangaroo With help of tracker dogs when unable to locate darted ( asleep) Kangaroo AVA Coordination Office donated 1300 number to coordinate rescue effort and volunteers, coordinate drug companies and wholesalers AVA paid for a dedicated secretary Task Force members with specific tasks Dr Charles Foster- Veterinary Clinic support and warehousing Dr Elaine Ong- Triage Centres set up, Support, Technical information dissemination and liaison with Wildlife Vcitoria Dr Helen Mc Cracken- Wildlife support Dr Chris Barton- Supply of triage kits , drugs and supplies dissemination and transport Dr Norm Blackman- AVA rep, Legal, waivers, liaoson with DSE DPI Ms Cathy Mc Adie VN- Volunteer data base, and roster of volunteers Over 200volunteers on the data base About 100 vets and nurses deployed to asist in triage centres or to assist in peripheral vet clinics inundated with injured or lost animals (at periphery to fires) 12 triage centres set up in conjunction with Wildlife Victoria King lake Marysville.Taggerty Dr Alison Brown at Taggerty Triage with an orphan Redesdale Wilsons Prom Daylesford Upwey Beechworth/Myrtleford Supported triage at Hepburn Vet clinic Heasleville sanctuary( Largest wildlife triage centre) Eltham Kilmore Whittlesea Assisted periphery vet clinics (either with volunteers, supplies or tech info) Yea/Alexandra Hepburn Whittlesea Beechworth/Myrtleford Victorian animal aid trust Taggerty Assisted RSPCA with darting of animals Willdife Vic supported all Wildlifecarers /shelters regardles of affiliation THE POSITIVES Great collaboration with all groups Including Wildlife Victoria who funded all the Costs of the drugs and supplies needed Zoos Victoria , Lort Smith animal hospital, Victorian Animal Aid Trust DSE. Goodwill and generosity from ALL the Vets and nurses who volunteered their time, some from interstate and the same from the Vets and clinics in the Disaster Zones All did a magnificent , selfless and thankless jobs Many did not receive any publicity or recognition Many have spent thousands asssiting stray and injured animals as well as paying their staff overtime Long term goal- Working on a Disaster management preparedness plan AVA willing to endorse and take leadership in the Prepardeness Plans Great generosity from the drug companies and wholesalers, Thoudsands of dollars of drugs and supplies donated FUTURE DISASTER PREPAREDNESS PLANS PLANNING MEETING HELD on 14th August 2009 The invitees were selected 27 key vets and nurses from all over the State who were directly affected or were at the peripheal clinicss or voluntreers who assisted for a significant amount of time We had 4 working groups: Darting burnt Kangaroo in King Lake Assisted Triage at King Lake set up at old milk bar Equine and LA group Clinicsupport and drugs and supplies Volunteers Wildlife and triage centres The Immediate Objectives Draft a preparedness plan based on - Clinic preparedness Plan- Clincis in disaster ones Clincis in periphery The Role of the VET Task force and refinement of our previous Flow Plan Set up a Vet Reserve, Nusre Reserve and Darter Reserve Capacity Bulding of vets and nurses General Principles we followed/ requirements set in concrete Defining types of disaster Disaster management plan is 80% Preparedness Disater management cycle Preparedness – Mitigation- Response- Recovery Planning is from the Bottom up Then admnistered Top down Collaboration and communication important to Profession, Volunteers public and Govt depts from Now NAD team Needs assessment team- formed with 1 Vet in diaster periphery, and 1 wildlife expert and one from AVA Task force Flow plan must roll from day 1 of disaster Triage Team On the ground by day 3 Requirements needed for preparedness incl legal, requiremnets for volunteers incl DSE wildlife training PPE gear etc Plans will be based on personal experiences in Bushfires in Victoria in the past 8 years, disaster relief work in Indonesia and Sri Lanka Lessons learnt from Hurricane katrina in the US and Studies read from Disaster Veterinary specialists from the US such as Drs Wingfield and Palmer Details discussed within each group including:- Each Group set its own Flow charts- how they will roll out Triage Kit lists for different animals Triage tagging system for animals in large scale disaster The Outcome Each working group will continue to work on the preparedness plan Zoos victoria and Healvesville sanctuary will fund 3 2 day courses for vets and nusres at 3 different venues for Wildlife emergency triage and treatment Wildlife Victoria committed to work closely with us Will fund courses for all interested people carers shelter vets nurses in wildlife handling, rescue etc In the process of lobbying Ava to fund a full time person to allow us to set up ,administer and implement the preparedness Plan, foccusing on the top 3 objectives The long term goal will be a Preparedness plan that may take years to complete Howevere a Prelimnary plan will be vital in prepration for the next lot of bushfires If we achieve the 3 Objectives , we will be able to deliver a respectable and efficient response that will lessen the suffering of thousands of animals and also provide support to Vets, Nurses and wildlife carers
	© BHVH / STW, 2002-2010 (Legal information) Website by Show The World Website Design and Hosting