FAWNA NSW INC

An update on the #Food4Wildlife program

On 16th November 2019 FAWNA NSW INC the volunteer group licensed by NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service launched its #Food4Wildlife and Nest Box Appeal via its Web Platform.

The area of operation in the MidCoast Council, Port Macquarie-Hastings Council and Kempsey Shire Council shires, some 18,000 sq km had been severely impacted by bushfires that spread relentlessly through huge swathes of wildlife habitat.

The fires caused significant loss of life in wildlife populations and destroyed so much of the food resources needed by all the wildlife species that were already suffering the worst drought in recorded history.

As the group licensed for all wildlife species for rescue, rehabilitation and release, FAWNA knew it had to step up and do something to ensure the survival of the free-living native animals impacted so badly by the fires.

As a volunteer group, FAWNA did not have the monetary or human resources to mount an ambitious #Food4Wildlife program alone but between us all, we have done just that.

We have moved mountains – mountains of bags of feed for kangaroos, wallabies, possums, birds and a whole heap of other native animals.

In just a few weeks there are over 30 food collection stations spread over the FAWNA area where the community can collect macropod pellets and wild bird seed to put out for their hungry local fauna.

The program kicked off with some significant donations from Wildlife Rescue Sunshine Coast and The Rescue Collective giving FAWNA the confidence to know this program could continue for the long term if necessary until the rains come and habitat starts its slow restoration process.

From everyone at FAWNA, thank you for your donation.

Here is the FAWNA wide map of our #Food4Wildlife collection points – well done all involved.  this will be a work in progress as new sites are added and perhaps some removed.

The individual maps for each area are still available at the following links:

• Kempsey LGA – https://www.fawna.org.au/food-4-wildlife-food-stations-kempsey-lga/
• Port Macquarie-Hastings LGA https://www.fawna.org.au/food-4-wildlife-food-stations-port-macquarie-hastings-lga/
• MidCoast Council LGA https://www.fawna.org.au/food-4-wildlife-food-stations-midcoast-lga/

Please click the marker to get the address of the marker.

PUBLIC MESSAGE TO PEOPLE OFFERING HELP TO F.A.W.N.A. (NSW) INC WITH THE CURRENT BUSHFIRES IN MIDCOAST, PORT MACQUARIE-HASTINGS AND KEMPSEY SHIRES

FAWNA would like to thank all those wonderful people who have offered assistance of all kinds to support our efforts with displaced, injured and burnt wildlife from the fires. We can’t possibly respond to the huge number of contacts but we value each and every one – thank you.

Our volunteers are equipped and able to cope with the number of animals that have come in from the fires over the past few weeks. We are well-equipped and our members are trained to handle affected wildlife and administer to their needs. Our wonderful colleagues at Koala Conservation Australia have been spearheading the Search and Rescue efforts, not only for koalas, but keeping an eye out for all species. Sadly there are not a lot of animals being found and brought in. In the MidCoast Region Koalas in Care have also been active in the aftermath of the numerous fires that started in October.

People from other wildlife rescue groups have been wonderful offering help as and when needed and these will be our first port of call should it be that we do need to send animals outside the FAWNA system.

We are required that all animal rehabilitation is done by licensed and trained people so we can’t accept animal caring help from members of the public. But, FAWNA has found it heart-warming that there have been so many offers of to assist. IFAW, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, has funded expensive burn creams and our vets have been wonderful with donation of their time and supplies.

We have received a number of donations via the donate tab on www.fawna.org.au for which we are most grateful. We would like all donors to know that all monies donated to FAWNA go directly to assist wildlife whether it is buying food or medications for them or paying vet bills and supporting members with equipment they need to directly care for their injured and orphaned critters.

FAWNA has no paid staff and we do everything by the smell of an oily rag to make sure our funds do meet our core objective of rescue, rehabilitation and release. Our volunteers are champions and we try to make their wildlife caring work as economical as possible for them.

After the Pappinbarra fires a few years ago we were able to use donated monies to buy animal foods that locals could collect and leave out for the hungry wildlife after the fires.

We do ask members of the public to put out shallow and safe water dishes for wildlife and clean and replenish them regularly. Rocks and ramps for safety to save any animal getting stuck or drowned is recommended.

A big Thank You all from Team FAWNA