Wildlife Carers
Ms CATE FAEHRMANN: I move:
(1) That this House notes that:
(a) during the horrific and unprecedented 2019-2020 bushfire season, at least 5.3 million hectares, or 6.7 per cent, of New South Wales burnt, with estimates that one billion native animals perished in New South Wales and Victoria alone, not including birds, bats, fish, frogs or insects;
(b) countless wildlife carers dedicated thousands of hours to rescue and care for sick and injured wildlife feeding and nursing them around the clock—care which is still ongoing, many working independently or within small volunteer organisations;
(c) hundreds of thousands of members of the public from across Australia and all over the world donated money, medical and food supplies, knitted and sewed bat wraps, joey pouches and koala mittens and built and distributed thousands of nesting boxes and watering stations; and
(d) wildlife rescue organisations across New South Wales went into overdrive to coordinate volunteers and to get supplies to where they were needed including: Animal Rescue Collective, Animal Evac NZ, Cedar Creek Wombat Rescue, Dimmocks Retreat, Featherdale Wildlife Park, For Australian Wildlife Needing Care, Friends of the Koala, Hammer's Hill Wildlife Sanctuary, Helping You Help Animals New Zealand, Irwin's Corner Wildlife Sanctuary, Kalandan Wildlife Sanctuary, Koala Conservation Australia, Koalas in Care, Kuring-gai Bat Conservation Society, Looking After Our Kosciusko Orphans, Major's Creek Wildlife Rescue, Native Animal Rescue Group, Native Animal Trust Fund, Northern Rivers Wildlife Carers, Northern Tablelands Wildlife Carers, NSW Wildlife Council, Mallacoota Wildlife Shelter, Port Stephens Koalas, Rescue and Rehabilitation of Native Animals, Saving our Native Animals, Secret Creek Sanctuary, Shoalhaven Bat Clinic, Southern Cross Wildlife Clinic, Sydney Wildlife Rescue, Symbio Wildlife Park, Taronga Wildlife Hospital, Tweed Valley Wildlife Carers, Two Thumbs Wildlife Sanctuary, Wildlife Rescue South Coast, WIRES, Wild 2 Free Kangaroo Sanctuary, Wildlife Aid, Wildlife Stations Shoalhaven, Wildlife Animal Rescue and Care Society, Wildlife in Need of Care, Wildcare Queanbeyan, Wildlife Carers Network Central West Inc, Wildlife Rescue South Coast and many more.
(2) That this House offers its sincerest thanks and heartfelt gratitude to all those individuals who selflessly volunteered to help our native wildlife this bushfire season, and in particular all the licensed wildlife carers across the State and the organisations that support them.
Motion agreed to.