Mogo Bushfires - Rotary Thailand support

 
There were many stories that came out of the “Black Summer” Bushfires of 2019/20.  This is just one of them.  This relates to a small town on the Far South Coast – just south of Batemans Bay.  The fires hit Mogo very early on New Year’s Eve – December 31, 2019.  Prior to 6.00am most of the population of Mogo had been evacuated east to the coastal villages of Broulee, Mossy Point and Tomakin.  Half of Mogo’s main street had been destroyed, Old Mogo Town and many homes between the Princes Highway and the coast had been consumed as well.  There was one minor miracle that in the main escaped the carnage – Mogo Wildlife Park! 
 
                  “Zoo Keeper Chad” – the face and Director of the park
 
The Park is home to over 200 exotic animals and on 31 December 2019 – it was under threat from the fires.  Because of the magnitude of the bushfires all over the Eurobodalla Shire – there were no RFS units available to assist with protecting the Park.  Fifteen staff came to the rescue – some even leaving their own homes that were under threat.
 
Can you imagine the possibilities of fires going through the wildlife park – firstly the possible loss of animals that are already on the brink of extinction – and secondly if enclosures were breached and animals escaped to create mayhem in association with the fires.  Lions, tigers, rhinos, giraffes, gorillas loose and scared!  The staff were able to secure most of the larger and more dangerous animals in their night dens, some of the smaller animals were placed into pet carry cages and placed in the Managers home for safety and some of the animals remained in their open enclosures.  The giraffes were happier out in their enclosure where they could see what was happening rather than being locked in their night den.
 
With animals secured and safe the staff were then able to manage any spot fires that may have arisen with the end result being only a couple of small outbuildings lost but all animals were saved.  While many consider it a miracle and there is always a bit of luck in circumstances such as this - one of the reasons that the Park was saved was that they a plan on how to manage a bushfire should that ever put the Park under threat.  The staff knew what they had to do, and they did it.
 
 
Following on from the fires – there were many offers of support to those affected by the fires.  There were offers of financial support from all over Australia as well as all over the world.  One such offer came from Rotarians, Rotary Clubs and Rotary Districts in Thailand and it came via PRID Noel Trevaskis who had represented the RI President at a Conference in Thailand.  The suggestion that came from Thailand was that the money be used to assist in supporting Australian flora and fauna following the fires.  Mogo Wildlife Park had decided to build a new animal hospital on site – not just for the Parks animals but also to allow treatment of injured Australian Wildlife as well.  Nearly $30,000 was received from Thailand and it was decided that this be split between the animal hospital at Mogo Wildlife Park for hospital equipment and the Eurobodalla Botanic Gardens which had been severely impacted by the bushfires.  The money going to the Botanic Gardens has been utilised on a new Nature Scape Garden which will be officially opened in September.  This reflects what Rotary can do on a worldwide basis and it reflects how quickly Rotary, and Rotarians can respond when needed.  These two organisations are extremely grateful to Rotary in General and the Rotarians, Rotary Clubs and District in Thailand.