Carwoola fire: Wildlife carers prepare for influx of injured animals after blaze in southern NSW
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Wildlife carers, already overwhelmed by bushfires in southern New South Wales in January, are expecting hundreds of injured kangaroos from the Carwoola blaze over the coming weeks as people re-enter the fireground.
The fire, which swept the Carwoola and Captains Flat region near Queanbeyan, destroyed 11 homes, damaged 12 others, and destroyed 45 outbuildings.
The 3,500-hectare blaze also killed a substantial amount of wildlife and injured many others.
Oolandra Wildlife Sanctuary carer Helen Stevens said the impact on animals from the fire was worse than the Sutton and Tarago blazes earlier this year.
"This was a very quick-moving, hot fire," she said.
"What we found with Sutton was that the kangaroos didn't start getting reported to us until a week after the fire, as people noticed they weren't moving properly.
"So the fact that we're already getting a lot through now doesn't bode well for the future."
Carers as far afield as Kangaroo Valley, Braidwood and Cowra have also put their hands up to take injured roos from the Carwoola fires.
Ms Stevens said they had to euthanase many of the kangaroos that had already arrived, but less than 48 hours ago, she received a joey the centre had been able to take into its care.
"You think of the trauma he's been through, he's extremely scared," she said.
"He's not used to being near humans so at the moment he's not sure what's happening in his life — as well as the pain he's experiencing with those burns."
But even as the injured wildlife from the Carwoola fires begin to come in, Ms Stevens said the centre was preparing for the next challenge.
Joey season kicks off in May, a time when carers can be taking in as many as seven joeys a day.
"I'm already worrying about it, to be honest," she said. "We are pretty stretched at the moment."
No horses lost thanks to social media buddy system
Although countless wildlife were killed, not a single horse was lost in the recent fires, thanks to a buddy system established on social media.
It was the first time in NSW that every horse was able to be saved in a fire of this level.
Misty Stebbing, who created the system, lost her own home and horses in a fire 30 years ago.
Not wanting anyone to suffer the same fate, she set up the ACT/Queanbeyan and Surrounds Equine Buddy Register on Facebook for horse owners around the ACT, so that in an emergency they could quickly get the animals out of danger.
Owners on opposite sides of the ACT "buddy up" before a fire and in an emergency can quickly call someone else with a horse float to get their horses out.
"It means that they don't have to be concerned about taking them to an evacuation centre. They know they've got a buddy who will help them move their horses," Ms Stebbing said.
Over two days members of the buddy system moved more than 200 horses out of the fire grounds to safety.
'I wanted to hug everybody'
Even though the group was started less than three months ago it has nearly 700 members, and during the fires more than 80 volunteers leapt into action.
Horse owner Samantha Cochrane is one of the buddies in the group on Facebook.
She said she was napping when the fires broke out and woke to dozens of calls and messages offering help to move her 30 horses out of danger.
"I was bombarded with messages of 'do you need help?'," Ms Cochrane said.
"I don't even know how to thank them. I didn't have words, I just felt like hugging everybody."
Ms Stebbing said she hoped to establish a charity to replicate the success in Carwoola nationwide, as well as educate others about the preparation needed to get horses ready before a fire happens.
Topics: animals, livestock, rural, queanbeyan-2620, captains-flat-2623, nsw, act, canberra-2600
