{"id":1449,"date":"2020-02-12T00:01:25","date_gmt":"2020-02-12T05:01:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zoocheck.com\/podcast\/?p=1449"},"modified":"2020-11-30T13:48:41","modified_gmt":"2020-11-30T18:48:41","slug":"through-the-eyes-of-a-wildlife-rescue-specialist-the-australia-fires-with-kelly-donithan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zoocheck.com\/podcast\/through-the-eyes-of-a-wildlife-rescue-specialist-the-australia-fires-with-kelly-donithan\/","title":{"rendered":"Through the eyes of a wildlife-rescue specialist: The Australia Fires with Kelly Donithan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photo by Jo-Anna Robinson\/AP Images for HSI<\/p>\n

In this episode Kelly Donithan, senior specialist with the Disaster Operations at Humane Society International (HSI), Washington D.C., takes us on a startling journey: join us as we see through the eyes of personnel on the ground in Australia as they face the hard reality of rescuing wildlife amidst the perils and aftermath of the fires.<\/span><\/p>\n

Listen as Donithan describes her experience leading wildlife-rescue efforts on Kangaroo Island, the third largest island off the coast of Australia, and one of the most heavily affected locations: the island has now lost 1,700 square\u00a0 miles to the flames.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kathryn and Donithan\u00a0 discuss the length and severity of this record-breaking fire season in Australia. Donithan underscores how the temperatures have been hotter and the conditions drier than in the past, and so the fires have burned far more intensely and on a much grander scale. The fires have taken human lives and livestock, destroyed property and vegetation, and devastated the\u00a0 wildlife population so unique to Australia.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe come across clusters of bones that if you touch them, they just kind of disintegrated into a powder . . . I mean they were just on such a hot fire – <\/span>the temperatures being hotter and the weather just being drier. The fires have burned far more intensely and, and on a much grander scale than they have in the past.\u201d – <\/span>Kelly Donithan<\/span><\/p>\n

Donithan describes the array of species that are part of the wildlife rescue and recovery efforts, including subspecies of kangaroos, wallabies, bandicoots and koalas. Kangaroo Island has a high density of koalas, so the rescuers have found many dead, but have also been able to help others that are still alive and suffering the extremely traumatic and challenging aftermath of the devastation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Listen as Donithan explains that the rescuers\u2019 number one priority is to keep animals in the wild, and not to intervene if it is not absolutely necessary. Rescue teams are monitoring injured wildlife from afar and are working with local people to determine each individual\u2019s survival capacity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kathryn and Donithan discuss the misleading images in media footage of seemingly content and social koalas in the arms of humans after having been rescued. In fact, Donithan points out that such states of compliance are a sign of severe physiological and often emotional trauma, resulting from exhaustion, dehydration, malnutrition, or for the young animals, separation from their mothers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Using GPS pins, the wildlife rescue teams also assess areas where koalas are high up in trees, checking once or even twice a day – rescuers want to be there for koalas when they move down to the ground. While it is not normal behaviour for koalas to drink, as they get most of their hydration through the eucalyptus leaves they eat, the rescuers are putting out water stations as many of the eucalyptus trees have been destroyed or severely damaged by the fires. The water stations also benefit other species of animals, like kangaroos and wallabies, in these areas, and are a major part of the next phase of recovery, along with food stations, as the main rescue effort winds down on Kangaroo Island.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Be part of the change:<\/h3>\n

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