With tears rolling down her face, Claire Smith is pleading for more community support to extend her overflowing Wildlife Rescue Sunshine Coast Hospital.
Without it, sick and injured kangaroos that the rescue and rehabilitation team are unable to treat, will be euthanised.
The Wildlife Rescue Sunshine Coast founder and her team are halfway through their mission to raise another $15,000 of their $30,000 target, to help them buy a new 10m x 3.4m portable building to be able to fit all the animals needing care.
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Ms Smith said her hospital was the only dedicated macropod clinic and treatment centre in Queensland.
“Our kangaroo clinic is so full, and there is no sign of it slowing down,” Ms Smith said.
“We believe they deserve better than euthanasia if they can be treated and rehabilitated.
“We desperately need the new building. With more help, even if it’s just a few dollars, we will keep on saving precious lives and never have to turn a kangaroo away.”
She shared some startling figures from over the past five years, from her animal rescue service alone.
“We’ve seen a 1007 per cent increase in kangaroo and wallaby incidents in the last five years,” she said. “It is really important to support the work we are doing, otherwise they will be wiped-out.
“We have 18 areas in the region which are now without kangaroos and that have experienced local extinction. This includes the UniSC kangaroo ‘mob,’ which has been declared as functionally extinct.”
She said in the last five years, rescue groups had seen a rapid decline of kangaroos and wallabies in the region.
The number of injured kangaroos attended to by Wildlife Rescue Sunshine Coast have generally increased:
- 2017 – 26
- 2018 – 49
- 2019 – 246
- 2020 – 189
- 2021 – 165
- 2022 – 200+ so far
Ms Smith noted there were fewer incidents in 2020 because of COVID, and numbers were down slightly in 2021 because kangaroos were being “wiped out” at such a high rate.
“We’ve already attended more that 200 incidents this year, so we are predicting higher figures for 2022,” she said.
“That’s why we have built a hospital and partnered with the sanctuary … we can’t keep sticking a bandage over the situation, we have to do something to preserve these species.”
Most of the incidents Ms Smith and the team attend to are injured kangaroos that have been hit by cars.
“The kangaroos are being pushed out to the margins because of development, and we are seeing a lot of fence-hangers (animals caught in fences) coming through,” she said.
Those with similar injuries at other care facilities are often euthanised.
“The injuries we are treating, are treatable injuries. It’s just that these animals don’t get the chance to be treated.
“That’s why this hospital is so important because we give animals the chance to live.”
The not-for-profit organisation has recently managed to raise $15,000 toward their crucial goal.
“It will be a game-changer for our roos if we reach our target,” Ms Smith said. “We have the experience and the ability to do all the rescuing – to work with our vets – to rehabilitate. But without money we can’t do as much of what we do.
“We pay for the hospital treatment ourselves. We are reliant on our local community and we see it as a partnership between the community, us and our vets.”
For the past 18 months the group have been fundraising and, with an outpouring of community support, they have managed to raise a total of $130,000.
The team members have used the money to turn a three-bay shed into “Queensland’s first hospital for kangaroos and wallabies”.
The Wildlife Rescue Sunshine Coast Animal Hospital, partnered with Dhil’um-bar Sanctuary, officially opened at Harper Creek, near Maleny, about three months ago.
Ms Smith said the future plan was to apply for government grants to continue expanding the facilities.
“The need for the hospital has really exceeded our expectations,” she said.
Donations can be made at Wildlife Rescue Sunshine Coast Inc.
Direct deposits can also be made to Bendigo Bank, Wildlife Rescue Sunshine Coast Inc, BSB: 633-000 Account number: 161554795.
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