Canberra fire: animals rescued...

On another community I participate in there is a member in Canberra, Australia. They are going through a big problem with fires right now. Here is an extract from his post re. animal rescue that I thought would interest you.

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The worst is probably over and it's just rebuilding from here on. There are still bushfires around and the weather conditions very hot and windy - not good - but we're unlikely to get another huge bushfire front hitting all at once.

The animals in the shelter were saved by a couple of volunteers. The cats were in the building that was saved, and the dogs were initially set free and are now housed in the local zoo. In the lions' enclosure.

Oh yeah, they moved the lions out first.

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That's too bad...it's never good for the animals when there's a fire. I'm glad the animals were saved. Thank God for those volunteers.

For you Aussies on the board...stay safe!

It feels like half the bl**dy country is on fire right now. It just hasn't rained for more than a year, even in the suburbs.

It's too hazardous in Canberra (our nation's capital) to get an accurate guess on how many homes have burned to the ground, but last count is about 400. That's a small suburb in itself. Canberra is surrounded by native bush for hundreds of kilometres and our wildlife must be suffering dreadfully. There have been stories of the fires moving so quickly that people haven't had time to save any of their possessions and rescue their pets. I hope that some of them managed to escape and can be recovered when things settle.

There are many other fires along the entire eastern seaboard of the country and in the mountain ranges. In north-eastern Victoria in the mountains, there are several fires. I couldn't think of anything more terrifying then being trapped atop a mountain with a bushfire roaring up. My heart is going out to the people and wildlife.

That's awful!! That sounds like our western states, only far worse. I can't even imagine having no rain for over a year. Those poor suffering animals. I hope, too, that the animals that were trapped somehow managed to escape.

My thoughts and prayers are with you. Just saw a report of
the raging fires on local TV. They said it was the worst in the
history of your country.:( I am so sorry and I wish you well.

Apparently the weather from next weekend will be 40 degrees C (102F+) and above so any backburning or fire control needs to be done in the next few days (even though the fires are still out of control), in preparation for next weekend's onslaught :( About 70 firefighters from New Zealand arrived yesterday to help out. We are OK where I live (so far) so I can't physically help, but will donate to the Wildlife Information and Rescue Service to help their amazing effort.

Geez, can it get any worse?? I wish I could help somehow.

"... I used to live near the ACT animal shelter. I dropped an injured parrot off there a couple of years back - poor thing flew into a window and broke something.

The Canberra website seems to be down, but the national site is up. Australia RSPCA

"Donations made to RSPCA Australia help provide national initiatives, such as major animal awareness campaigns, research into improved animal farming techniques and dealing with the federal government on animal welfare related issues. If you wish to donate to RSPCA Australia please send a cheque or money order, made payable to RSPCA Australia to:

RSPCA Australia Inc
PO Box 265
Deakin West, ACT 2600
Australia. "

I guess you could specify that your donation is meant to rebuild the shelter.

Just listening on the radio about injured wildlife as it happens. People are being encouraged to leave of pans of water and vegetables out for animals looking for food and particularly water. Many kangaroos are out, displaced from their normal bushland, and motorists are being urged to take care. Echidnas are being reported in inner suburbs.

"The RSPCA animal shelter, also in Weston, is in ruins. Animals always attract heroes, and so it was in this fire. About 100 of some 125 animals (including birds) survived. Most were moved out beforehand. Many were taken by the zoo. The zoo keeper had to be persuaded to leave the shelter. Then, after staff and volunteers had been evacuated, a middle-aged couple (the woman walks dogs for the shelter) who were driving past formed a two-person firefighting unit, saving the cattery and another building.

"When executive officer Simon Tadd returned that night the pair were "black and bleeding". They would not give their names.

"In Canberra, the wildlife lives in the city. In this drought it is not unusual to come home at night to kangaroos grazing on the lawn.

"Yesterday the local radio was advising residents that "fire refugees", especially birds, would be turning up in back yards, snakes would be on the move, and kangaroos, which are killed by the dozen on the roads, would now be starving."

Cheers, Peter in Canberra"

My thoughts and prayers to all those affected.

This is from my friend who lives near Canberra:

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Thanks.. looks like the worst is over. They've declared all Canberra suburbs safe for the time being at least, altho there's a fire further south towards Michelago (which will mean nothing to you I guess!). I went home today when someone thought they saw a fire heading towards Banks, but it was a false alarm... I hung around and hosed off the front yard anyway....

402 homes lost, 4 dead, hundreds of millions of dollars in damage...

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Her area is on alert still.

More than 200 of the homes in Canberra were in the same neighbourhood. Can you imagine standing out the front of your house and seeing 200 of your neighbours' homes flattened - it was just awful to see on the news.

The property loss is frightful and I'm praying for those affected. It seems a miracle though, that the human death toll is so low in such a tragedy however.

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Originally posted by AmberLee
It seems a miracle though, that the human death toll is so low in such a tragedy however.

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I think it's because they must be very organized. I wouldn't even like to imagine what would happen here in case of fire. We're better organized, though, in case of earthquakes.
I was watching the news the last few days and I thought - it's going to take a while until the area recovers from the fire. They showed on some tv channel a few days ago, the effect of the Amazonian fires after about 20 years. It's awful.

This is terrible ...! I wonder if there are any trees left there ?:rolleyes: :eek:
A few years ago , we visited the Blue Mountains near Sydney . OMG , they are so special ..! Is this area also in danger as to the fire ?? I hope not :eek: :)
To all our "aussies" here : I loved Australia !! I hope to get there again one day ...:confused: But , the flight there takes 24 hours of travel ... and the price ??:eek: :eek: :eek:

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Originally posted by lut
This is terrible ...! I wonder if there are any trees left there ?:
A few years ago , we visited the Blue Mountains near Sydney . OMG , they are so special ..! Is this area also in danger as to the fire ?? I hope not :
To all our "aussies" here : I loved Australia !! I hope to get there again one day ...:confused: But , the flight there takes 24 hours of travel ... and the price ??

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Lut, the Blue Mountains was devastated last Christmas by bushfires. We were still living in Sydney and flying home from Christmas - even at 37,000 feet, the smoke was causing the plane's engines to struggle. It was dreadfully sad. The national park near our house lost 80% of its area to fire and most of its animals.

PS the airfare might be expensive, but I can organise plenty of places for you to stay for free :) :)

Quick update: The house loss in the Canberra fires is now 530. In Victoria, my home state, there are still huge fires in the alpine region - a northerly wind will pick up tomorrow and is threatening some of the most beautiful old towns: Beechworth, Bright and Harrietville. It's the region at the base of the mountains and the area inhabited during the gold rush years of the 1850s.

It was 40 degrees C today, 42 degrees forecast for tomorrow, and 37 the day after and no rain in sight at all. It's going to get a lot worse :(

That's just awful....I'm about to do a raindance and see if that would help you guys. I will pray that those lovely areas are not affected by the fires. It's so sad to hear of loss of life and property...I just can't imagine the horror of watching your life go up in flames.

:)bump:)

There was a wonderful follow-up story on TV last night.

A young boy named Christopher lost his best friend during the Canberra fires - his dog named Poppy. Christopher's parents said he was so distraught that he wore Poppy's dog tags on a chain around his neck, and he'd grip her collar at night when sleeping. He became withdrawn from his family and friends, and at school gave up music, which was his favourite activity.

Recently Christopher and his mother visited the RSPCA to see if he liked any of the dogs. He saw a black dog (border collie mix?) who he liked, and took her for a walk and all went well. They went back with Christopher's father for another visit and took the dog home. You've never seen such an excited dog! I don't know how long she was from death row, but strays are generally only given 28 days to be re-homed. The final footage was of the boy and his dog playing in the backyard, and they wer both so happy. Christopher said that he'd give anything to have Poppy back, but he knows that can't happen so he'll love this dog.

It was so sweet, I bawled my eyes out. The family lost everything in the fires so I e-mailed the TV network to see if I can get in touch with them and send Christopher a collar or something nice for his dog.

That's a great story Nicole! That would be so neat if you could send him something special for his new pooch. It is so sad to hear about what is happening. How long is this supposed to last? Can they not do anything about the fires? Perhaps do some puposeful burning to try to prevent it from spreading? Such a terrible loss of wildlife and family pets. So sad. :( I hope all clears up quickly. ;)

Cass, this was in January so people are just starting to rebuild now. The drought made the bush and undergrowth so dry that was even too dangerous to backburn around the suburbs (regular controlled burning versus leaving the bush alone is a never-ending argument here!) The family above are in a co-operative so they help other families build their houses, and then the other families help build their house. Great idea.

Cheers!