Bushfire New South Wales, Australia 2020

The Emergency

From late 2019 to early 2020, unprecedented bushfires devastated large parts of Australia. The state of New South Wales was especially hard hit; millions of hectares of bush and forest burned down.

An estimated three billion animals were affected by the fires. Countless wild animals such as koalas and kangaroos died, suffered severe burns or lost their habitat and food supply.

Our Deployment

The ADRG supported the local rescue and care structures with personnel, veterinary equipment and expertise in treating burn-injured animals.

• Veterinary treatment of burns, smoke inhalation and dehydration in wildlife and livestock.
• Supporting local wildlife rescue stations in admitting and caring for injured animals.
• Providing food and water for animals in cut-off and burnt areas.
• Professional exchange with the Australian responders on treating large numbers of burn-injured animals.
• Support for rebuilding a wildlife intake station destroyed by the fire.

The deployment underlined that the expertise pooled within the Bundesverband is called upon even for disasters on other continents.

All disaster deployments of the Bundesverband at a glance