19/01/2026
This is true. Highly experienced rescuers, many with experience on multiple firegrounds, have been bullied and threatened off the Harcourt fire ground. This is despite, roads being open, kids riding bicycles in their thongs and tradies of all sorts allowed in. We know there are animals suffering and we know there will be a few that might be able to be saved. Rescuers have been threatened with charges of trespass (on a fire ground) despite there being no road block or notices of where the restricted fire areas are. Rescuers have been invited by residents on private properties where residents and other people are now living and working post fire. Rescuers notified police that they would be on the ‘safe’ fire grounds on private properties and the police made no objection. The response of these government authorities to wildlife is disgraceful. Sadly, the relevant government departments have been treating fire grounds as an opportunity to cull populations of wildlife. They sincerely do not care if the animals suffer or whether they can be helped. A token response of a few wildlife officers who are inexperienced in wildlife rescue and assessment is all that DEECA can muster. The department (who also hands out licences to kill wildlife for profit and protects the rights of duck shooters) are only interested in keeping people away so they can carry out their dirty business of killing wildlife on the fire ground without witnesses; much as they did when they culled over 1000 koalas from a helicopter.
This response to wildlife rescue is antagonistic and speaks volumes about the little regard the government has for the welfare of wildlife. They care nothing for the continuing trauma of the people directly impacted on the fire ground who must watch returning wildlife whose lives are not value and will see no help coming. The disregard and disrespect the governement has for wildlife rescue and rehabilitation in this state is palpable.
VOLUNTEERS LOCKED OUT OF FIRE GROUNDS
LEAVING THOUSANDS OF ANIMALS TO PERISH IN AGONY
The Allen government is blocking trained wildlife volunteers from rescuing fire affected wildlife, leaving thousands of native animals to die a prolonged and agonising death from their burns.
Volunteers in the Harcourt fire area are being threatened with fines if they rescue any animals, even on private properties deemed safe.
Incident controllers are going so far as telling residents to call 000 and report them to police if they attempt to rescue any animals.
In the Vic Emergency Community Newsletter, it states:
“Well-intentioned but unauthorised access by wildlife rescuers should be reported immediately through 000 for police response, providing location details and descriptions of persons and vehicles including registration numbers”.
Wildlife volunteers are some of the most dedicated and respected people in our community who have sacrificed their lives for the protection and rescue of orphaned and injured native animals. They are an essential part of the emergency response, however the state government is treating them like criminals for doing this selfless and thankless job.
The public assumes that volunteers are accessing fire grounds after they are deemed safe, so the search and rescue of burnt and orphaned wildlife can begin, and many give generously to the cause, but the Victorian state government has now criminalised this essential process, leaving thousands of burnt and orphaned animals to die a slow and agonising death.
The Australian Society for Kangaroos has previously investigated the state government’s response to the 2020 fires, and the findings were shocking. Despite millions of hectares burnt, with billions of animals estimated to have perished, the state government banned all volunteers from accessing fire grounds to search for and rescue fire affected animals. As a result, their own data recorded a total of 300 kangaroos euthanased, and just a handful of animals taken into care after the 2020 fires, posing serious questions about the welfare and suffering of billions of animals left to perish in agony.
The Australian Society for Kangaroos report also exposed the state government’s policy on the treatment of fire affected native wildlife, which is to kill all kangaroos including healthy orphaned joeys, no matter how good their chance of survival. You can read our report into the 2020 fires at the link below:
https://australiansocietyforkangaroos.com/investigations/2022-wildlife-rescuers-blocked-from-fires/
You can view the video from Vic Emergency here, where they refer to wildlife volunteers as criminals, telling the public to report them to police:
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1412997863860322
And here in the Vic Emergency Newsletter:
https://files-em.em.vic.gov.au/public/CommNews/Fact-Sheets/Community_Newsletter_Ravenswood-Fogartys_Gap_Road_Fire_18_January_2026.pdf?v=202601181401&fbclid=IwY2xjawPaMKBleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFsSW4wVlZhaGlmRklFMHFtc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHjMugIth8pFeZKIQGMea8EQgbR8_j1T28zUmrDOC-r3V-TCJFUCjVBMHqkSj_aem_FQM4JZx9ZU5CeMikDkMerQ
The situation in Harcourt is not unique.
See this FB post by “Koalas in Crisis”
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AoVtY5gXV/
The truth is coming out and volunteers are furious.
This cruel policy by the state government is also potentially in breach of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act which clearly states that it is an offence to leave injured animals to suffer without providing assistance.
The Australian Society for Kangaroos is calling for an urgent investigation into the state government and their actions to stop volunteers from assisting injured wildlife across fire grounds in Victoria, so that important questions can be asked.
These questions include:
Why have highly trained and experienced wildlife volunteers been banned from accessing fire grounds while other emergency and utility services are given full access?
Who is actually searching and rescuing the 4000ha fire ground in Harcourt and what have they done to the burnt and orphaned wildlife?
How many animals have their officers assisted in the 10 days since the fires started?
These are important questions that the general public deserves to know, especially if they are donating millions of dollars for this purpose.
You contact your local MP's with these questions if you live in fire zones, and the State and Federal members in your region, on all sides of politics, demanding an end to this cruel and senseless policy leaving burnt and orphaned wildlife to die alone in agony while trained volunteers wait on the sidelines, labelled criminals by the Victorian government. .
THANK YOU
THE ASK TEAM
