How to become a wildlife carer

Over the past several weeks, Australia’s catastrophic bushfires has brought into focus the crucial role that WIRES plays in caring for injured and orphaned native animals.

WATCH: Woman rescues a scorched koala from Australian bushfire

In December alone, the wildlife rescue organisation took over 20,000 calls to WIRES 1300 line, a 14% increase on last year, and WIRES volunteers attended over 3,300 rescues.

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According to a WIRES spokeswoman, the organisation is in dire need of more volunteers to “take some of the weight off” during the ongoing fire emergency.

“The toll on the carers is just unbelievable at the moment; they’re seeing horrific things,” the spokeswoman told The Blue Mountains News.

“A lot of the animals are already being transferred out of the area to provide some additional support."

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WILDLIFE RESCUE ALERT With communication so difficult at this time there will be areas where we cannot get local rescue alerts out to our volunteers. Where alerts are received it may still be impossible for any volunteers to safely respond. In many areas, particularly the South Coast, communication is currently a massive issue. Power outages have knocked out phones and made it impossible to recharge devices and with many telecommunications towers being impacted, many areas also have no or limited mobile reception. In addition many volunteers have either had to evacuate or may need to evacuate their properties. For all community members in fire affected areas, particularly those on the South Coast at this time, please read further emergency advice on our blog at wires.org.au as a guideline to assist any wildlife in need that you find over the next few days. #australiaburns #bushfiresaustralia #wireswildliferescue #wildliferescuealert

People interested in becoming a volunteer carer for WIRES can sign up for wildlife training workshops.

Participants need to be 18 years and over to register for the training, as well as having a valid drivers licence and their own vehicle.

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WIRES was grateful for the assistance of Dr Hunter and Dr Uebel from @StewartStreetVets in Bathurst on New Years Day, when they attended to burnt kangaroos who had fled the large mega fire that has burned through the Wollemi and Blue Mountains all the way to the Central West of NSW. The kangaroos 🦘 all had burnt feet and needed to be sedated via darting to have their burns bathed, bandaged and be administered antibiotics, pain relief and sedation. Two females also had burns to their eyelids and mouths. The kangaroos will be monitored over the coming days and regular bandage changes will continue to keep the wounds clean. All going well, these kangaroos - who have been through enough already - should recover over time. Please report any injured animals to WIRES on 1300 094 737 only fully trained volunteers are able to help at this time. If you are interested in training to help wildlife you can find more information at wires.org.au 🔥 You can donate to our Emergency Fund link in bio #nswfires #australiaburns #wireswildliferescue #wildlifebushfirerescue #kangaroo

The WIRES Rescue and Immediate Care Course (RICC) is WIRES' introductory course for carers and covers topics such as species identification, safe handling techniques and first aid.

The course costs $125 and bookings can be made here.

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Rebecca Lowrey Boyd

Rebecca is the Digital Managing Editor of Better Homes and Gardens.

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