Wildlife Victoria under fire over rescue services

WILDLIFE Victoria has denied claims the organisation no longer has 24/7 dedicated rescuers operating along the Surf Coast, after a prominent wildlife rescue group raised the alarm about animals being left to suffer across the region.

Surf Coast Wildlife Rescue founder Jason Cichocki said a lack of active and adequately trained Wildlife Victoria rescuers in the region had led to a troubling increase in injured animals waiting for assistance, with many being left to suffer for days on end.

He highlighted several recent instances when his rescue group had been alerted to injured wildlife after Wildlife Victoria failed to respond, including a young female kangaroo who sustained two broken legs after being hit by a car last week in Anglesea.

“When I turned up, she was surrounded by her own faeces because she’d been sitting there for three days.

“This is what we’ve had to bring to the public’s attention: if you call Wildlife Victoria, there is a good chance that that particular animal is not going to get rescued and therefore you need to call your local wildlife rescue groups.

“It’s a disgrace… but I’m not standing idly while they’re letting animals suffer in my region.”

Mr Cichocki said he had worked closely with Wildlife Victoria until recently but was let go after raising concerns about the safety of the organisation’s volunteer rescuers.

Those concerns, he said, included an incident in which a young rescuer, armed with only an online kangaroo rescue course and no on-the-ground experience, was assigned to an injured six-foot male kangaroo – a dangerous situation for even experienced rescuers.

“I had it out with them about 18 months ago in regards to the way their system is failing us, the rescuers, putting lives at risk and also the way it’s failing the animals that are injured.

“I outlined all of this in an e-mail to the CEO and her response was ‘Thank you for your 10 years of service, but we no longer require your services’.”

A Wildlife Victoria spokesperson said the organisation continues to operate its 24/7 state-wide wildlife emergency response service, with more than 70 “skilled, active and highly dedicated” volunteers across the Surf Coast and wider Greater Geelong region.

The spokesperson said the organisation provided its volunteers, each of whom were “required to adhere to a code of conduct”, with “24/7 health, wellbeing and safety support, insurance in case of accident and injury [and] access to ongoing training”.

“It is not appropriate to comment on the communications between Wildlife Victoria and existing or former volunteers, nor to the reasons why a volunteer may be stood down..

“There is no doubt that long-term systemic underfunding and a lack of regulation within the wildlife sector can create challenges within rescue and rehabilitation, affecting volunteers, licenced wildlife shelters and Wildlife Victoria.

“We would like to assure the Surf Coast community that Wildlife Victoria continues to operate in the region.”