A WSPA disaster assessment and response (DART) team has arrived in Brisbane to work with our member society the RSPCA Queensland in assessing and responding to animal welfare needs caused by the recent flooding. The situation has been described in media today as a natural disaster that is unprecedented in contemporary Australia.
Our main task for the day has been to meet with the RSPCA Queensland to discuss immediate needs. There has been good progress so far at an urban level. The RSPCA team are professional, capable and have found the capacity to deal with companion animal issues in Brisbane and other urban centres affected by the flooding.
Early flood warnings by the RSPCA in Brisbane informed local people to move their animals as soon as possible to safer, higher ground. Liaison with the local council ensured the opening of animal shelter facilities alongside the evacuation centre for those who were forced to leave their homes as waters rose.
But this has by no means been an easy task, made all the more difficult when the RSPCA’s own shelters were flooded. At Fairfield (pictured above) staff managed to evacuate almost 600 animals in three hours, thanks to a network of volunteer fosterers who raced to the shelter to help move animals away from the water and take care of them in their own homes.
What is still unknown is the situation in more severely hit rural areas. WSPA and the RSPCA Queensland are working together to assess and respond to this issue over the coming days. Our focus will be the Lockyer Valley where an ‘inland tsunami’ devastated local communities on Monday and where access is still not possible. This area had no warning of what was to come.
Both the WSPA and RSPCA teams have had specialist training in how to deal with disaster situations and are now preparing, all being well, to enter this area tomorrow. We hope to determine what help the livestock and wildlife there need, but we are still seeking permission to enter the area. We’re confident that working with our member society, this can be achieved.
