Australia has long relied on volunteers and wildlife carers. As bird flu spreads, they will need support

As bird flu spreads across Australia, the country is discovering just how dependent its wildlife response has become on unpaid volunteers. The Conversation reports that over twenty thousand volunteer wildlife carers spend an average of five thousand three hundred dollars of their own money annually and put in thirty-two hours a week caring for injured animals. The government prepared with surveillance and habitat work, but with the virus now spreading domestically, those volunteers have become the frontline of detection and response. Official guidance tells the public to avoid sick animals, yet volunteers provide the actual care. Australia's conservation system has been chronically underfunded—spending just zero point zero six percent of the federal budget on ground-level work. Supporting that volunteer workforce, the article argues, would strengthen both wildlife protection and national biosecurity at a fraction of what hiring professionals would cost.

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