Joined Wildlife Vic in Feb 2009. A few weeks after the fires, my husband found a burnt roo on his work property, he called Wildlife Vic, while he waited for rescuers, it drank 5 buckets of water from his hands. This led us to realize the impact the fires were having on our wildlife and we knew they needed our help. That weekend we went to the staging area, we were not trained, so we just did whatever we could to lessen the job for other rescuers, we transported pet food, blankets and other supplies, to needy shelters in the area.

We went to the first set of training available and completed our basic fire awareness course. We then became qualified rescuers with Wildlife Victoria, our first call was to a burnt wombat, and it was then I fell in love with them. In March we began wombat search and rescue in fire affected areas. We became authorized food droppers for fire affected areas for Wildlife Vic and are registered with DSE to do this.

I became so involved with helping wombats, yet before I started, knew nothing about them, and had only seen them in pictures. So I researched, spending hours, reading, emailing, and phoning carers for advice and to learn as much as I could. This is how I encountered Linda from FCW. Linda's guide provided a practical guide to use and refer to. I made quite a few phone calls to Linda and sent emails, to which she was always available to offer advice on wombat issues.

The fires may be over for now, but the wombats are still suffering and their home is still bare, food scarce. Myself and other dedicated volunteers continue to food drop and do whatever we can, to help the wombats.