REMEMBER WHEN

GOLD COAST BULLETIN Saturday, February 14, 2009

MORE than a million native animals died in the inferno, but some were lucky and may have just made it, thanks to the huge efforts of people like those at the Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary.

The sanctuary wildlife team put aside its personal losses and continued to work tirelessly day in and day out to rescue Aussie battlers like their latest cuddly patient. This yet-to-be named female koala was brought to the sanctuary and while her prognosis was not known, veterinary nurse Kelly Wynn was doing everything she can to save her.

Ms Wynn’s efforts followed on from the now famous image of CFA volunteer David Tree giving Sam the koala a drink from his water bottle, and husband and wife veterinary team Anthony and Tomi Dredge who gave badly burnt koala “Krispy” five-star treatment at the Yea Veterinary clinic.

While Sam and Krispy were expected to make a good recovery, many other animals, including wombats, possums, bandicoots and birds had not fared so well.

A spokeswoman for the Healesville Sanctuary, Judy Robertson, said some animals had been euthanised while others faced months of rehabilitation.

Staff were doing what they could to help the wildlife while also dealing with their own losses.

‘‘We unfortunately have some staff who have been devastated with the loss of their home and as Healesville is a very close community, we’ve also had a lot of staff affected by the loss of friends and family and their homes, so it’s been quite a stressful time,’’ she said.