Wed like to take a moment to talk about how you can help wildlife over summer. As it starts to heat up significantly over all of Victoria, wildlife begin to suffer. Not only from the heat, but dehydration, less food sources, and the coup de grace of Victorian issues....fires. What can you do? 1. WATER FOR WILDLIFE. Leave out bowls of water in your yard with some sticks, branches or stone inside the bowls to help smaller critters from drowning or not being able to get out. The water should be left in shady areas and replaced daily. On severely hot days we recommend at least twice daily. Get your neighbours to do it too. Approach businesses and shops in your area to join in this initiative. Its a very simple yet effective way to help many animals. 2. KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN FOR ANIMAL IN DISTRESS. If you see nocturnal animals out in the day, you can be assured that something is not right. On consecutive very hot days it is likely to be heat stress so the first thing to do is to offer them water. If they are in a state whereby they cannot even drink any water they will need extra help. Never force them as you could do more harm than good. Birds struggle immensely in the heat and have been known to drop out of the sky in an attempt to find water and shelter. Please check out the Wildlife Victoria, Help for Wildlife and/or DEPI websites on what to do if you encounter a distressed animal or contact them for assistance. Preparing yourself early with this information could mean life or death for an animal in need. 3. EDUCATE THE PUBLIC * Hand out flyers to remind them to leave out Water For Wildlife. *Contact your local school to ask them to get the teachers to tell their students to put out water at home. *Put up posters on community boards 4. JOIN A WILDLIFE RESCUE GROUP Volunteering to help sick and injured wildlife is a very rewarding job. Many animals are saved from prolonged suffering or slow death when rescued. 5. DONATE You can donate your time, by offering items that shelters may need during summer, or of course financially. Contributing to your local shelter is a surefire way to ensure that the money will be spent on the care of our precious wildlife. FIRES During fire season, millions of animals will lose their lives. Those who survive may be tremendously injured and need to be euthanased. Then there are those who are not injured but their homes are destroyed. Fires rage through taking away food and water sources. There are many groups who will do food drops to those areas where little is left, in an attempt to stop the wildlife from starving to death. This is a long term process until the flora can begin regenerating. This all costs money and few if any groups receive support or help from government. FARM ANIMALS (and other domestics) Its not just wildlife that suffers though. As you drive through our dry state you can see how vulnerable the animals that are considered farm animals are. Often kept in paddocks with no shelter or shade (which is actually illegal). All animals need protection from our harsh Australian sun. If you see distressed farm animals, contact the farmer. If you are not able to then contact the RSPCA or DEPI. Although they arent always in a position to do anything (for whatever reason) its important to report them. If all else fails we recommend getting in touch with other rescue groups or activists groups that may be able to assist. Never leave your animals locked in hot cars. Never leave your animals without shelter and appropriate access to water. Water left in the sun can get extremely hot. Keep yourself healthy and cool over this summer. Remember: if you are hot, so are they.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 01:06:13 +0000
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