Vets renew push for disaster related care training ahead of bushfire season
Prompted by the Black Summer bushfires, vets across the country have a renewed push for training in disaster related care. A course at Taronga Zoo is hoping to help workers care for animals impacted by what's predicted to be a hot, dry summer.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00 Hands-on practice at Saving Lives.
00:05 These vets and vet nurses from across the country are learning vital skills in caring
00:10 for wildlife under stress.
00:12 Bushfires would be the big one around where we are.
00:15 There's a lot of farmland as well and that goes up pretty quickly.
00:20 The course is guided by staff who worked during the Black Summer bushfires.
00:24 We ended up getting around 20 koalas in one week and there were obviously ones that had
00:29 perished in the fire and we couldn't help.
00:31 But the ones that we got in, I got to triage, assess and treat.
00:36 They're hoping they can share that experience across the industry.
00:40 If they do come across these wildlife that have experienced the wildlife crisis such
00:46 as droughts and floods and fires, to be able to deal with that, they need that training.
00:51 The course has given around 700 veterinary professionals hands-on training to help animals
00:56 like this echidna get back on their feet.
00:59 They're hoping it gives people in the industry a better shot at saving wildlife during extreme
01:04 weather events.
01:05 With the hot weather it would be more, say a lot of birds that are collapsed or exhausted
01:12 from the heat and then you've always got that fire risk as well.
01:16 That's front of mind as a hot, dry summer approaches.
01:20 It's extremely important, particularly now as we're entering bushfire season, we can
01:25 build the capacity for veterinary professionals around the country.
01:29 Participants taking fresh skills back to regions on the front lines.
01:33 [BLANK_AUDIO]