{"id":500340,"date":"2026-02-24T05:44:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T05:44:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/500340\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T05:44:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T05:44:18","slug":"sa-wildlife-carers-help-animals-hurt-in-deep-creek-fires-as-they-emerge-from-refuges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/500340\/","title":{"rendered":"SA wildlife carers help animals hurt in Deep Creek fires as they emerge from refuges"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thanks to the efforts of firefighters and other volunteers, no human homes were lost in the recent Deep Creek fires south of Adelaide.<\/p>\n

That was despite flames ripping through more than 4,500 hectares of paddocks, scrub and large swathes of the Deep Creek National Park and Tallisker Conservation Park.<\/p>\n

However, more than three weeks after the fire was declared contained, many animals are still emerging from their places of refuge, some with horrific injuries.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Jess Law holds a sleepy lizard that managed to find refuge as the flames passed through. (ABC South East: Caroline Horn)<\/p>\n

As the firefighters packed up and returned home, a smaller volunteer workforce of veterinarians and helpers, clad in distinctive red overalls, began their work.<\/p>\n

They will continue to be on the fireground for several weeks, locating and helping injured wildlife with the help of residents and rangers.<\/p>\n

Team members had seen more than 470 animals within their first eight days on the ground.<\/p>\n

The majority of them were kangaroos.<\/p>\n

Sadly, about 10 per cent had severe injuries and needed to be euthanised.<\/p>\n

South Australian Veterinary Emergency Management coordinator Rachael Westcott \u2014 who also runs a mobile veterinary practice \u2014 said while the southern Fleurieu and its conservation parks were not “koala country”, they were home to many other native animals, including kangaroos, possums, lizards and snakes.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Julie Chadwick helps a kangaroo that was brought to the CFS staging post in Yankalilla by a water tanker driver. (ABC South East SA: Caroline Horn)<\/p>\n

Kangaroos panic during fires<\/p>\n

Dr Westcott said many people often believed kangaroos and other mobile animals were not badly affected by fires and could outrun them.<\/p>\n

However, she said they often reacted in similar ways to humans and could also succumb to smoke inhalation.<\/p>\n

“[During a bushfire] visibility is zero and it’s no different for animals,” Dr Westacott said.<\/p>\n

“They panic and can’t see and then they run into fences or they run back into the fire.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Rachel Westcott says kangaroos can panic during bushfires. (ABC South East SA: Caroline Horn)<\/p>\n

“So, we have found some that have been incinerated, caught up in a fence, which is always dreadful to see.”<\/p>\n

Dr Westcott said it also meant that an important part of the team’s role was to make contact with landowners who became their eyes and ears around the charred fireground.<\/p>\n

“Wildlife go to ground and hide in places of refuge and then they emerge weeks later,” she said.<\/p>\n

“That’s very common with wildlife.”<\/p>\n

Providing refuge<\/p>\n

Shane Rowlands came close to losing his home at Deep Creek during the fire.<\/p>\n

He evacuated his pets straight away after being alerted to the fire by a neighbour soon after it was ignited.<\/p>\n

“There were big plumes of smoke and flames coming up from the gully down there opposite their place so I grabbed what I could and got the animals in the car and drove out,” he said.<\/p>\n

His house and sheds survived but the rest of the property was incinerated.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Shane Rowlands spent 10 hours putting out spot fires. (ABC South East: Caroline Horn)<\/p>\n

“It was pretty surreal,” he said.<\/p>\n

One of his first priorities after returning again was to establish a water supply for his house and the wildlife looking for refuge.<\/p>\n

Mr Rowland said he had seen a few kangaroos in the days after the fires but expected to see more return over the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

“They’ll keep coming out,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I haven’t seen any snakes yet. They’re probably way underground or wherever they go.”<\/p>\n

He was also glad to see a familiar sleepy lizard, which he said had been living on the family’s property for at least 30 years.<\/p>\n

\"Burnt<\/p>\n

The Deep Creek fire burned for a week before it was contained. (ABC South East SA: Caroline Horn)<\/p>\n

“I saw him yesterday and I gave him some mango and stuff to keep him going,” he said.<\/p>\n

After the senior sleepy lizard was given a check-up by one of team’s veterinarians, he was returned into the greenery of the Rowland family’s surviving vegetable patch.<\/p>\n

Mobile care centre<\/p>\n

Dr Westcott started SA Veterinary Emergency Management in 2009 after the Victorian Black Summer bushfires.<\/p>\n

She said South Australia lacked an animal-focused emergency response organisation.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

CFS trucks lined up along Range Road West as crews waited for their taskings at the Deep Creek fireground. (ABC South East SA: Caroline Horn)<\/p>\n

Since then, the team has attended fire grounds at Sampson Flat, Pinery, Wangary, Cudlee Creek and Kangaroo Island and smaller incidents in between.<\/p>\n

It is funded by donations and government grants and the willingness of their volunteers to leave their day jobs and respond in the aftermath of a fire, flood or other emergency.<\/p>\n

In the next few months they are hoping to bring on line their mobile care centre, a large purpose-built truck with emergency treatment areas, able to fully operate in isolated areas and house volunteers for as long as they need to be on site.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thanks to the efforts of firefighters and other volunteers, no human homes were lost in the recent Deep…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":500341,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,43182,251684,251689,251688,43185,234492,251683,251685,251682,128,50459,251686,251687,338],"class_list":["post-500340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bushfire","tag-bushfires-and-wildlife","tag-can-animals-survive-bushfires","tag-can-kangaroos-out-run-bushfires","tag-cfs","tag-deep-creek","tag-deep-creek-fires","tag-how-to-wildlife-react-during-bushfires","tag-savem","tag-science","tag-veterinary","tag-what-do-animals-do-during-bushfires","tag-what-do-kangaroos-do-during-bushfires","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500340\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}