animal rescue

"A hundred kangaroos, some dead, others badly injured." Barry Tapp, Senior Inspector for Animal Cruelty Australia Hotline, and other animal rescuers and carers say that the RSPCA failed to respond to requests to deploy the Mobile Animal Vet van to the bushfire areas where it was much needed (notably round Bunyip) and that they thereby failed to honour the commitment they gave the Victorian Government after the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into RSPCA Victoria. We publish below the Government Response to that Inquiry. Warriors4wildlife provided the photos via Barrie Tapp.

Wildlife carers and rescuers and local farmers have requested the RSPCA to provide its mobile vet clinic ready to assist the expected influx of injured and suffering animals as soon as people are allowed back into the areas currently affected by the Bunyip fire. Barrie Tapp, Senior Inspector for Animal Cruelty Australia Hotline, says the RSPCA and their mobile vet van are needed now. "We already have reports of animals dead and dying."

Click on picture to see film. "Knowing these young monkeys would have faced decades of painful experimentation, it was a particularly emotional moment this morning as we loaded them onto the transport truck in preparation for their journey. It was truly a relief to look each one of these incredible creatures in the eyes and make good on my promise: finally taking them into our arms of compassion."Click on picture to see film.

First new patient in Wildhaven since the fires.
The large and serious eyes in the long face make you think of E.T., but this is actually a tiny baby kangaroo. He will grow up for the next couple of years in the experienced hands of Wildlife carers, Stella and Allen Reid. When he is released into the adjacent forest, he will also have learned how to live like a kangaroo, but at the moment - still a little baby - he is living in two worlds.