By Esther Lauaki
A Point Cook animal rescue service is facing closure under the pressure of high costs and no public funding.
Animal rescue volunteers Marcus Stadener and Elaine Osborne set up Point Cook Wildlife Care in 2016 to provide rescue, rehabilitation and release services for injured and orphaned wildlife.
But the team, two of half a dozen wildlife volunteers that service the west, last week announced they could no longer shoulder the expense of their work.
Ms Osborne said the pair spent up to $20,000 a year including between $300 and $500 a week on food depending on what animals were in care, about $900 on medication and supplies and 2600 litres of water a week replenishing swan pools.
“As the community is now more aware through the bushfire crisis we’ve been watching horrifyingly unfold, wildlife care in this country is not funded by anyone unless a crisis occurs – it relies on good-hearted volunteers constantly digging into their own pockets,” Ms Osborne said.
“Unfortunately our care and compassion for those in need has seen us spend close to $60,000 on feed, equipment, aviaries and repair, not to mention the additional fuel and utilities costs over the four to five years we’ve been operating.”
Mr Osborne told Star Weekly that as a result of the high cost, coupled with her recent unemployment, Point Cook Wildlife Care would close.
“We are broken beyond belief and are at one of the lowest points in our lives,” she said.
An online fundraising campaign has raised more than $2500 and Ms Osborne said the support from the community had left the team “gobsmacked”.
“It has truly been beyond what we could ever have imagined – we honestly had no idea that our services in wildlife care meant as much to people as it does to us,” she said.
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