Firefighters across the State are to receive training in wildlife first response under a new NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) initiative to help animals impacted by bushfires.
Announced by Minister for the Environment, Matt Kean, the NPWS training program is expected to improve survival rates for injured wildlife.
“We were all devastated by the images of burnt and injured wildlife during the black summer bushfires,” Mr Kean said.
“It was a disaster that impacted around three billion native animals across the nation and we want to make sure we have the training in place to give injured wildlife the best chance of survival,” he said.
“In 2019-20 nearly 130,000 native animals were taken in by wildlife carers, 35 per cent more than previous years.”
Mr Kean said NPWS’s new training program would ensure that firefighters had the tools to assess and report injured wildlife; apply basic first aid; and transfer injured animals off the fireground to vets and volunteer wildlife rehabilitators.
“Volunteer wildlife rehabilitators were absolutely invaluable during the bushfire crisis – rescuing and caring for around 90,000 injured animals as the State battled our worst ever bushfires,” he said.
The Minister said the training program, developed with the Taronga Conservation Society Australia, would be available to all firefighters from 1 December.
Mr Kean said the training package responded to a recommendation of the NSW Bushfire Inquiry.
Information on helping wildlife in an emergency can be accessed on the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment’s website at this PS News link.
