Emergency Notice
Catastrophic fires, the worst drought in history and record high temperatures are taking a tragic toll on native wildlife.
In WIRES history we have never seen a concurrent series of emergencies events like those that began in November. Hundreds of fires over weeks have burnt over 4.9 million hectares of land in NSW alone. Many animals were already struggling with a lack of water and food due to the drought. With the fires destroying unprecedented amounts of habitat, food shortages have increased and lack of suitable habitat will be a significant long-term challenge for surviving wildlife.
It is impossible to know how many animals have perished and it will be many months before the impact on wild populations can be better understood but ecologists at Sydney University have estimated over 800 million animals have been affected in NSW and over 1 billion animals in Australia since September.
Summer is a frantically busy time for wildlife rescue and there are still dozens of fires burning in NSW. In December alone there were over 20,000 calls to WIRES 1300 line, a 14% increase on last year, and volunteers attended over 3,300 rescues.
Thanks to the incredibly generous support provided by the national and international community in the first week of January, WIRES is now able to offer national emergency support to assist groups working with wildlife affected by these emergency events. Licenced wildlife carers and wildlife rescue organisations can apply now for grants up to $5,000 for individuals and $20,000 for groups, requests for additional help can also be submitted.
To help rescue sick, injured and orphaned wildlife please support WIRES Emergency Fund.
Wildlife Rescue 7 days a week, 365 days a year
WIRES mission is to actively rehabilitate and preserve Australian wildlife and inspire others to do the same.
WIRES (NSW Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service Inc.) has been rescuing and caring for wildlife for over 30 years and is the largest wildlife rescue organisation in Australia. WIRES currently has over 2,600 volunteers in 28 NSW branches involved in the rescue and care of wildlife and we have a dedicated Rescue Office that operates 365 days a year assisting the community to help native animals in distress.
WIRES is passionate about supporting smaller volunteer organisations in the wildlife sector with the same mission, as well as Universities, Veterinary Associations and other leading scientific and environmental groups. In the last 5 years WIRES has been working with organisations including: WWF, National Parks Association, Humane Society International, The Wilderness Society, Nature Conservation Council, Birdlife, RSPCA, Animal Welfare League and IFAW and we thank these organisations for their significant ongoing contribution to the wildlife rehabilitation sector.
Currently WIRES presence is primarily in NSW where we responding to more than 90,000 rescues each year, we also receive around 170,000 calls to our 1300 WIRES line annually, including thousands of interstate calls. WIRES also plays a major role in community wildlife education with traditionally hundreds of thousands of unique visitors to our website annually which increased to over 1 million unique visitors in just the first week of January 2020.
In response to the tragic toll of the catastrophic fires and drought on wildlife, WIRES is actively pursuing significant opportunities to help wildlife more broadly across Australia, including partnering on projects to improve long-term outcomes for native animals.
