From The Saturday Paper, 7 December 2024:
A soot-smeared man clutches his dog and weeps in relief. A grazier stands defeated before a field strewn with dead cattle. A woman tries desperately to grab a koala picking its way through flaming debris. A fleeing kangaroo is silhouetted against an inferno.
In every disaster, some of the most iconic images and stories centre on animals: pets, livestock and wildlife. Tales of families evacuating in a panic only to realise the family cat is nowhere to be found, of cows that can’t be moved to high-enough ground, of people going to extraordinary and sometimes dangerous lengths to rescue wildlife from flame or flood.
Those animals are often an afterthought in disaster planning, response and recovery, but they can make the difference between human life and death. Read more (paywall).
Bianca Nogrady 