A host of celebrities are urging their fans to support animal charity Humane Society International's animal search and rescue for wildlife survivors on Australia’s fire-ravaged Kangaroo Island.
Celebrities including Sia, Dannii Minogue, Jason Donovan, Dermot O'Leary, and Bette Midler have all taken to their social media channels to express their concern for the animal victims of the Australia fires.
Rescuers from Humane Society International deployed to Kangaroo Island are saving koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, possums and echidna and bringing them to Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park for treatment for burns, smoke inhalation, injuries, and dehydration and starvation. Among the animal victims, the teams are finding baby animals alone without their mothers.
Australian singer and fashion designer, Dannii Minogue wrote on Twitter ".@HSIGlobal is doing incredible work with injured wildlife on #KangarooIsland. So many koalas, kangaroos and other animals who need help and care. If you want to support their work on Kangaroo Island you can donate to the @HSIGlobal appeal here http://hsi.org/RescueTeam "
Australian singer and actor Jason Donovan wrote “Following the devastation in my home country recently, @HSIGlobal have an Australia fires animal rescue appeal. If you can spare any amount, 100% of donations go to HSI’s rescue work and provides much needed help to the animals whose habitats have been destroyed. Thank you.”
Australian-born international musician, Sia wrote “Please donate if you can. Every penny helps! – Team Sia #HumaneSocietyInternational”
British TV stars Dermot O’Leary and Pete Wicks also both shared various HSI rescue and donate appeal posts to their followers on Twitter and Instagram.
Humane Society International took the heart wrenching image of a traumatised koala sitting by the water beside another, deceased, koala. Although some media reports mistook the koala’s hunched posture as mourning, HSI experts say it’s the fact that they’re seeing koalas all over the island curled up and “shut down” like this on the ground instead of in the trees, which indicates a lack of food and water is taking its toll. Animal carcases, like that of the dead koala in the water, litter the ground across the decimated bushland on the island.
“Sadly, this is the reality on the ground on Kangaroo Island. The survivors have little to no energy reserves left and we are finding them sitting on the ground totally shut down – all too often with other corpses nearby.” Ms Donithan continued: “As the days go by, these animals are weakening more and more to a point where they require intervention because there’s virtually nothing left for them out here.”
Humane Society International’s team has been building water stations in remote areas where koalas have been seen perching in inaccessibly high trees, and photographs from camera traps set by the charity show that koalas are climbing down to drink. HSI has also delivered building materials to the island to allow for the construction of new temporary shelters at the wildlife park triage centre to help accommodate the growing number of animals needing veterinary and longer term care.
Erica Martin, CEO of HSI/Australia explains: “For so many of these animals, their natural habitat is gone, there simply isn’t anything to sustain them. So although the hope is that in time once the land recovers they will be able to be released back to the wild, that’s not likely to happen for some time yet. So for the meantime, we need to build these little guys a new, temporary home, and thanks to the donations we’re receiving, we’re able to get to work.”
Donations to hsi.org/aid help fund the Animal Rescue Team’s efforts in Australia and in other rescue and relief situations worldwide.
To donate, visit hsi.org/aid.
