It was January 2013, almost seven years to the day, when I first set foot in Sydney, Australia. I had found out only weeks before that I would need to travel to Sydney for work and, after 21 hours of travel, I was quite thrilled to finally set foot on this continent on the other side of the world.
I spent the week working only a few blocks from Sydney Harbor and enjoyed the clean, friendly, metropolitan city. But I couldn’t wait to explore beyond and see a little more of what Australia had to offer. With only a day and a half of leisure time, I knew I couldn’t go far, but thankfully the Blue Mountains were only a short distance outside the city-limits.
The Blue Mountains are in New South Wales (NSW) and encompass an area of about 4,400 square miles. The National Park is home to over 400 different forms of animals, including rare mammal species like spotted-tailed quoll, the koala, the yellow-bellied glider, and long-nosed potoroo. It is also home to threatened and exotic flora, including the endangered Wollemi Pines.
Since September 2019 bushfires have ravaged an estimated 10 million hectares of Australia – or 38,000 square miles. For context, that is comparable to the whole of England. According to the BBC, over 100 fires are still burning in New South Wales and Victoria, including the Blue Mountains. More than 2,000 homes have been destroyed just in NSW, and compromised air quality from the smoke continues to be a major concern.
But it’s not just the people of Australia being impacted by these devastating fires, the toll to the wildlife population is of disastrous proportion. Ecologists at Sydney University estimate over 800 million animals have been affected in NSW and over 1 billion animals in Australia since September.
While there are many organizations and agencies working together to contain the fires, one organization that is working tirelessly to rescue and rehabilitate the animals of Australia — including many endangered species — is WIRES (NSW Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service Inc.).
WIRES has been rescuing and caring for wildlife for over 30 years and is the largest wildlife rescue organization in Australia. According to their website, in December alone Wires received over 20,000 calls and volunteers attended over 3,300 rescues due to the fires. In addition to their work in the NSW area, they are offering national emergency support to assist groups working with wildlife in other parts of Australia affected by these devastating fires.
It will likely be months before we have a clear picture of just how catastrophic these fires have been to the ecosystem, economy, people, and wildlife of Australia. And while it may be easy to feel disconnected from the devastation happening on the other side of the world, this disaster impacts all of us. Not only is there an environmental impact on the world’s ecosystem (think rising ocean temperatures, degrading air quality, and extinction to species of flora and fauna), there will be a long-term economic impact, as well.
And if that’s not enough of a reason for us to sit-up and take action, then perhaps we might recall that God entrusted us to care for this world (Genesis 2:15) and our neighbors (Matthew 25:40-45) — no matter how far away.
To support WIRES ongoing efforts to rescue and save the wildlife of Australia, visit the WIRES Wildlife Emergency Fund page.
This blog post was written in partnership with the Blogging for Better Supporters, a collective platform to raise awareness and money for a different charity each month. #bloggingforbetter