Call to give more support to wildlife rescuers

The report follows the Economy and Infrastructure Committee’s inquiry into wildlife roadstrike.

In tabling the report, Committee Chair Georgie Purcell told the chamber that rescuers deserved more support.  
  
‘Our wildlife rescuers are volunteers, they are self-funding this work. They are doing it on top of their day jobs, and it is certainly not cheap,’ she said.  
  
The inquiry found that some volunteers receive small government grants, but these grants only partially offset their expenses. While Wildlife Victoria is the state’s leading wildlife emergency response service, only 7 per cent of its operating costs are covered by state government grants.

The inquiry heard that volunteer wildlife rescuers draw on their own funds to spend, in some cases, tens of thousands of dollars every year on the rescue and rehabilitation of injured native animals. 

Trevor Crawford from Wildlings Wildlife Rescue told the Committee he spends $700 a week just on vehicle costs, while Manfred Zabinskas of Macedon Ranges Wildlife Network said his shelter costs exceed $60,000 a year.  
  
‘We are at risk of losing responders, not due to lack of compassion but burnout and financial ruin. These are not safe or sustainable jobs,’ said Nicole De Haan, Operations Manager at Vets for Compassion, during a public hearing in Geelong.  

The report recommended giving Victorians the option to voluntarily contribute a nominal amount through yearly vehicle registration, with the funds going to support wildlife rescue and shelter in Victoria.  
 
The Committee also called for the government to consider providing recurrent funding and reimburse volunteers for costs incurred during rescues. 
 
Committee member Katherine Copsey told the chamber the wildlife rescuers were a community of volunteers that deserve support.    
 
‘The work that they do is really, really difficult. It is wearing emotionally and physically, and it is not adequately reimbursed at the moment,’ she said.  
 
‘I would hazard a guess that many people in the broader general public do not realise that our wildlife carers are not in some way professionally supported by the government. We have emergency first responders for a range of other incidents, but this is a really big issue that only you confront, I suppose, when you as an individual have a collision, but it is happening every day, it is causing distress every day,’ she said. 
 
The inquiry noted that the current patchwork response to wildlife roadstrike is inefficient and Committee member Gaelle Broad told the Legislative Council there was a need to develop a code of practice to address this, ‘because there are so many volunteers, including the CFA and the SES and our wildlife rescuers, engaged in this issue, [and we need] to ensure that there is no overlap’. 
 
The inquiry received 469 submissions and held three days of public hearings, taking evidence from wildlife rescue organisations, local councils, research scientists, police, farmers and others. 
 
The report, including its 32 findings and 18 recommendations, can be read and downloaded from the Committee’s website. 
 
The government has six months to respond to the report.