Burns and stress mean not all of the koalas injured in the South Australian bushfires will survive, said two Horsham volunteers who worked at an Adelaide koala hospital at the weekend.
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Horsham Veterinary Hospital staff Dr Debbie Delahunty and nurse Belinda Collins travelled to South Australia on Thursday where they spent almost two days volunteering their time at a makeshift koala hospital in Paradise Primary School, near Adelaide.
Dr Delahunty said she sprang into action after seeing a call out for assistance from Adelaide Koala Rescue to help treat koalas in the Vets Beyond Borders Facebook page.
"I was concerned about wildlife after seeing it all over the news," she said.
Dr Delahunty asked Miss Collins at 2pm if she would accompany her and by 4pm the two were on the road to Adelaide.
"We arrived to a triage at the Paradise Primary School and we were tasked with assessing and treating the koalas currently in care plus news ones.," she said. "A lot of the those helping out had been there for weeks.
"A lot of our work was sedating the koalas for bandage changes and cleaning wounds from burns.
"Some of the koalas were very very dehydrated when they came in so we also had to do some fluid testing and monitoring of their kidney function."
Dr Delahunty said there were more than 100 koalas in care and they were given training to handle them in the safest and most stress free way for the animals.
We treated as many as possible but the fact of the burns and the stress means they won't all survive.
- Horsham Veterinary Hospital nurse Belinda Collins
"We don't see many koalas in the Wimmera so it takes a bit of learning to know how to handle them," she said. "The koalas were in different sections, including a nursery, in hexagonal mesh dog pens.
"They obviously would have preferred a tree but it was a good system."
Miss Collins said working with the koalas was rewarding but difficult.
"We didn't have time to sit and cuddle them," she said. "They are wild animals and being around humans is stressful.
"(To handle them) you have to go in from below under their arms with a towel so they don't scratch you. The muscle in their upper arms is surprisingly strong which was worrying."
Miss Collins said she was concerned for the fate of the koalas and hoped to return to help soon.
"There were just so many koalas," she said. "We treated as many as possible but the fact of the burns and the stress means they won't all survive.
"I'm also not sure how they would go post release because a lot of their habitat has been burnt."
More than 25,000 hectares of land was burnt in the Cudlee Creek fire in December in Adelaide Hills.
"They are just so vulnerable so I was glad to help but I just want to go back, I just have to work out the logistics," Miss Collins said.
Dr Delahunty said other vets and vet nurses from Horsham were interested in going to Adelaide to help and would also be needed to treat wildlife in Victoria once the damage was assessed and it was safe to travel.
"What we did is a drop in the ocean compared to what has been done and what will be needed," she said.
Miss Collins said it was a great learning opportunity for her and Dr Delahunty and a chance to give back.
"I wouldn't say it was a once in a lifetime opportunity but it was something that doesn't come up everyday I guess," she said. "We were novices when we arrived but by the time we left were were training others.
"The best part I took out of it was in all the sadness you see the best in humanity with all the volunteers," she said. "People come from all over the place from different states, not just from Victoria and everyone was so lovely.
Dr Delahunty said people could help by donating funds to Adelaide Koala Rescue https://www.gofundme.com/f/adelaide-koala-rescue-saving-sa039s-koalas
University of Sydney Professor Chris Dickman estimated that 480 million animals had been affected by bushfires in New South Wales alone since September 2019.
He said in a statement that many of the affected animals were likely to have been killed directly by the fires, with others succumbing later due to the depletion of food and shelter resources and predation from introduced feral cats and red foxes.
The figure included mammals, birds and reptiles and did not include insects, bats or frogs.
Wildlife experts also held grave fears for the animals on Kangaroo Island in South Australia, with particular concerns for koalas, dunnarts and glossy black cockatoos after fires burned through one-third of the island.
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Eliza Berlage
Eliza Berlage made the move to Horsham to report for the Wimmera Mail-Times in October 2019. Originally from Sydney, she has a sociology background and spent two years working in the press gallery in Canberra.
Eliza Berlage made the move to Horsham to report for the Wimmera Mail-Times in October 2019. Originally from Sydney, she has a sociology background and spent two years working in the press gallery in Canberra.
