By JESSE GRAHAM
AN ANIMAL-loving grassroots group will be looking out for vulnerable residents – and their animals – in the valley this bushfire season with a volunteer emergency group being formed.
The Walking Forward Disaster Relief Team is the brainchild of Panton Hill resident Jenna Kelley, and aims to provide protection to animals in a catastrophic emergency.
Ms Kelley said that the team, once properly established, would be a group of people who have various resources – such as horse floats – and could step in to help evacuate animals in the event of a fire or other disaster.
She said team volunteers would notify her of their availability, and they could be contacted at short notice during disasters to visit people who aren’t able to evacuate animals.
Ms Kelley said she wanted to run the project at a grassroots level, and get people to help others in their communities.
“Basically, it’s from the need of people not being prepared to leave home before a disaster strikes,” she said.
“We try to capture people in the area who are available to help on bad days, creating a database and ensuring people give us dates of when they’re available and what facilities they have.
“If someone has an animal stuck on a property and can’t leave, we can have someone with a float pick them up.”
Ms Kelley said that this would be particularly important for horse owners in the valley, some of whom lost their pets in the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires or afterwards as a result of horrific burns.
Seven people have currently signed up for the team, with some located in Yarra Glen and Lilydale, and others littered around the state, and Ms Kelley said she was hoping to get more volunteers from across the valley.
“We want as many people as possible, just to make sure we’ve got everything covered,” she said.
“Even if people can help with reptiles and birds – not specifically just horses, but any animal that might need some help.”
Anyone interested in joining the Walking Forward Disaster Relief Team can visit www.facebook.com/WFDRF for more details.
