Twinnies Pelican and Seabird Rescue were forced to evacuate about 35 birds from their intensive care unit (ICU) and recovery unit in the early hours of Saturday morning when bushfires came within 200m of their Landsborough rescue centre, then the Twinnies and mum Helen stayed behind to keep the other birds safe.
“The smoke was terrible,“ Paula and Bridgitte Powers (The Twinnies) said. “It’s a terrible feeling when it’s so close. We could see just this shiny red glow.
“Helicopters and planes were going non-stop (dumping water on the fire).“
Twinnies said the birds were calm but you could tell they knew there was a fire.
The surrounding neighbours were evacuated from their homes but Helen and her daughters stayed, hosing down outside and wetting all their towels and doonas to put around the windows and doors to keep out the smoke inside then put the fans on for ventilation.
Wildlife Rescue Sunshine Coast’s Claire Smith and 16 volunteers arrived at the centre about 12.30am Saturday morning in nine cars to evacuate the wildlife most in need.
“We had two locations to take them,“ Claire said.
“At my home we set up ICU in our laundry and then an outside room for all the patients in recovery. In the carport we had swans, geese and curlews. Another person took all the lorikeets and some other ICU patients. Everybody survived the night. Then we waited until it was OK to take them back. The plan was always to put them back as soon as possible.
“It was very hard for the Twinnies to look at the ICU and see it completely empty – very hard and very stressful.“
“It’s a terrible thing, fire. We feel for what other Queenslanders are going through with fire at the moment,“ Helen said.
“The firefighters have done so well. It’s good that the community does pull together.“
Claire said the rescue group remained on watch and wait and would do so until the threat of fire had completely passed.
“We are 100 per cent on watch and wait with them. They can call any time day or night. Our entire team is ready to go at the drop of a hat,“ she said.
“It’s just something the community has to get onboard with and offer help. With wildlife, having the knowledge to care for them is important and thankfully we have a lot of people with that knowledge.“
Helen said they began the clean up on Sunday with everything smelling of smoke.
Being dependent only on tank and bore water they have now depleted much of their supplies and will have to buy in water.
For more on the Twinnies charity rescue organisation or to donate visit twinnies.com.au
