Disaster

Australia is a land of great variation in weather and natural disasters. Many of us accept this as part of the country in which we live. However, we are also an extremely generous and compassionate nation and many of the wildlife rehabilitators in Queensland have expressed a wish to support their counterparts.

At present areas of concern are: parts of Queensland, and other States suffering from natural disaster due to climatic extremes.

The QWRC Council will provide direction as to where wildlife carers and wildlife care groups wishing to donate money and goods can access important information to promptly contact and organise donations directly to Australian wildlife organisations in times of natural disasters / crisis.

It is the recommendation of the Council that the first contact of an individual wishing to offer support is to either their local district representative (see contacts page) or approach the QWRC secretary

Thanks to Lana from North Qld Wildlife Care, who was able to help Daryl, also from North Qld Wildlife Care by referring her to Fauna Rescue Whitsundays (FRW) for assistance after Cyclone Yasi.

Daryl was travelling home, north to Cardwell yesterday. She had taken 2 Mahogony Gliders in care and fled south to escape Cyclone Yasi. Daryl was desperate for somewhere to house gliders in an aviary overnight so they could "stretch their legs" as they had been couped up in their nest boxes for the journey. Lana gave her both my number and our FRW hotline number. Barb Adamson, who was "manning" our hotline yesterday, offered her place and that of Wendy Adams, both who had aviaries. I didn't speak to Daryl directly as she'd left a message on my phone and I left one on hers. Daryl texted me back to say she was staying with Wendy at Septimus. On her checking aviary before Daryl arrived, as hadn't been used for a while, Wendy noticed that it needed some repair due to a couple of holes and therefore would not be suitable for the gliders. Wendy then contacted Barb again who had also offered accommodation to Daryl, partner & the gliders. Barb was actually staying at her daughters house during the cyclone, so offered her house and aviary to Daryl, which she gratefully accepted. Thank you so much to Lana, Barb & Wendy for being able to help Daryl & the gliders out at such short notice. I truly hope that Daryl and other carers in FNQ have escaped with minimal damage to their homes and wildlife facilities.

Isn't it wonderful when different wildlife care groups can work together, helping each other out in times of emergencies :)

I'm sure there are many similar stories to come from Qld's recent disasters, so if you have a story to tell or photos to share, please forward them to our QWRC RnR newsletter editor, Judy, editor@qwrc.org.au or post to address below so we can share them with the rest of the wildlife rehabilitation community.

Daryl, Lana & Wendy are also members of Qld Wildlife Rehabilitation Council (QWRC).

I would like to remind you again that QWRC has a Disaster Appeal for Wildlife, which was set up to assist carers affected by any natural disaster. This will of course include help to carers affected by Cyclone Yasi. QWRC's Disaster Trust account is with CUA BSB 814-282 Acc # 30932248 or you can post donations directly to The Secretary, PO Box 488 Archerfield 4108. We ask that people please use their surname as a reference. We will ensure all funds are distributed where they are most needed.

To date QWRC has been able to assist in flood affected areas by:

Contacting carers & groups known to QWRC to find out what help they need.
Sourcing and coordinating emergency supplies of food for flood isolated carers (some of these were sent from one of our QWRC Councillors personal food stocks)
Co-ercing family members to assist with pickups and deliveries of emergency food supplies
All foods purchased to date have been charged to one of our QWRC member's account
Recording and liaising offers of help for clean up and rebuilding
Recording and liaising offers of various supplies donated
Managing donations from Victoria
Recording carers who do need assistance and finding them the assistance they needed
Researching ways and means to assist with revegetating affected areas to provide food for wildlife
Liaising with various groups offering assistance for those in need including, IFAW, Conservation Volunteers Aust, Wildlife Qld, AVA, RSPCA wildlife branch & groups from other States

We are offering the same assistance to Carers affected by Cyclone Yasi. However we do need carers to contact us if they need help or know of others who may need help. Whilst we have been in contact with some of you, power and phone lines have been down and we fear there may be a few carers we have not been able to reach. As our QWRC representatives in FNQ are currently still out of power, we suggest you contact either our Chair, Annie Saunders on 4975 6281 or 0427 031 877 or myself on 4947 3308 or 0427 176 966 or via our website www.qwrc.org.au

Regards

Jacqui Webb

District 4 Representative
Mackay/Whitsundays
Qld Wildlife Rehabilitation Council