As a wildlife carer of almost 20 years (recently resigned), I am pleading to your readers to act and lobby for the protection of our diminishing and undervalued wildlife.
Within NSW in 2025, some 485,000 defenceless wildlife were legally harmed or killed, simply trying to just survive.
This is a national disgrace, and where are those people that call themselves ‘true’ Australians? I am fortunate enough to have been surrounded by the real patriots for many decades… they are called wildlife carers.
For these altruistic citizens receive no funding from government, have to purchase all their supplies, and most often pay for veterinary treatment etc.
They are suffering from compassion fatigue/anxiety/stress and burnout, to put it mildly. Some can no longer endure the relentless assault on their hearts and hyper-vigilant brains.
Why are they rarely ever mentioned or awarded an OBE? They are forgotten heroes who ask for nothing, except maybe at least a tax deduction on their expenses which is denied.
So often I read or witness farmers using the same ‘plague narrative’ for kangaroos they have used for decades. Many Australians still aren’t aware we have the largest terrestrial commercial slaughter of wildlife on Earth. Most Australians sadly continue to believe the long held post generational myth that kangaroos are an inevitable pest.
Few ever question what we should be farming where and when? The already serious impacts of climate change still hasn’t deterred sheep or cattle farmers. So much of our wildlife is destroyed by 1080 baiting/trapping /shooting or poisoning. Barbed wire fences also contribute to the most agonising slow death for macropods.
Imagine if people could just stop eating meat, even for two or three meals a week. Cows actually stamp on koalas (incredible, I know) and often are so injured they have to be euthanised. Another reason not to eat meat.
One thing is indisputable and that is any species without a political voice is doomed.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
