The biodiversity crisis in Australia is worsening. In addition to the past drivers of species loss - habitat clearing and predation by feral pests - is the growing impact of the regular climate-driven disasters of huge fires and floods.
For many years the focus has been on governments (urged on by scientists and conservation groups) to deal with these past threats and implement recovery plans. On the sidelines have been wildlife carers whose important work is now regarded as crucial in dealing with biodiversity loss.
Ken Henry, chair of the Australian Climate and Biodiversity Foundation, is leading a campaign for wildlife protection to be coordinated nationally as part of a plan to reverse Australia’s biodiversity decline.
While the campaign to overhaul the Environment Protection and Biodiversity (EPBC) Act has raised awareness of the biodiversity crisis, animals caught up in natural disasters need better protection. Henry and others want budget funding for services such as veterinary treatment and long-term rehabilitation of animals - much of which are currently provided by volunteers.
The soaring demand for help for sick, injured or orphaned wildlife is being driven by climate change and habitat destruction.
“As a consequence of these pressures,” Henry said, “more and more animals are getting in harm’s way. When they get in harm’s way, governments take very little interest. So it is left to volunteers to pick up the pieces and get those animals back into the wild.”
According to Dean Huxley of WA Wildlife, the volunteer workforce has reached a tipping point. He said, “Government investment is not a luxury any more, it is essential. Without it there is a real risk that injured wildlife will soon have nowhere to go and that is something the community would not accept if it were understood.”
While caring for injured or orphaned wildlife is very rewarding, it is hard work and involves considerable commitment as I know from the friend who has been a local WIRES carer for many decades. These carers need more support.
Will May’s Federal Budget provide funds for this?
- Leonie Blain
Published in the Voices for the Earth column in The Clarence Valley Independent , 3 April, 2026.
