The Aftermath of Cyclone Alfred and Recent Storms
Our heart goes out to the community and anyone affected by Cyclone Alfred. Sadly, it caused major damage to Currumbin Wildlife Hospital, particularly to the Waterbirds Outdoor Rehab. And this is just after the recent summer storms in February that have already left significant damage.
cyclone alfred update
I hope you all managed to stay safe from Cyclone Alfred.
Some good news is that Currumbin Wildlife Hospital has re-opened, and the team are back at work treating wildlife. Today, with a little sunshine out, the team is looking to release some of the wildlife back into the wild.
Dr Pyne and the hospital team are seeing a lot of wet Birds, wet Possums, and unfortunately some nasty injuries as people are only just getting out and discovering sick and injured wildlife.
56 patients were admitted on Monday alone, another 87 on Tuesday. Based on past experience with storms and floods, we're still expecting a huge increase in admissions especially of Turtles, Water Birds and Koalas.
As we know from past flooding events, there will be many Turtles and Birds washed out of their homes, Koalas and Possums from fallen trees. Then, there will be the rising threat of botulism for Water Birds such as Swans and Pelicans. Botulism is a paralytic disease that can happen to Birds that eat food or drink water that is contaminated with the botulism toxin.
It's going to be a long few weeks.
If you can help the Currumbin Wildlife Hospital team face the influx of injured and sick wildlife after Cyclone Alfred, please donate. We appreciate any help that you may be able to give.
Recent storms damage
Currumbin Wildlife Hospital was already hit before Cyclone Alfred and took significant damage. Unfortunately, there was not enough time between the recent summers storms and Cyclone Alfred to get things fixed, which made the last few days even more challenging.
A couple of weeks ago, a large tree recently fell onto the shade cloth of the turtle pools, causing the roof of the waterbirds habitat to collapse.
There was also a power surge from a tree that fell nearby, causing the Fume Hood (biological safety cabinet) stored inside Currumbin Wildlife Hospital to malfunction.
This Fume Hood required urgent replacement because it allows vet staff to work with potentially dangerous / infectious materials safely and ensures the team can conduct more in-house pathology testing.
Fortunately, all patients were safe and protected during the February storms and their subsequent damage. Just like this beautiful Australasian Darter.
The timing of this interruption was not ideal given that Currumbin Wildlife Hospital just experienced its busiest year on record with over 16,000 wildlife patients in 2024. And then of course, Cyclone Alfred made things even worse.
But there are ways you can help us recover from this.
How you can help
The hospital team were relieved to hear that some kind members of the public came to the rescue, offering to pay to restore some of the storm damage. Unfortunately, with Cyclone Alfred the damage is now worse.
We are still looking for more support due to the exorbitant costs of this restoration and equipment replacement.
If you would like to be part of the community protecting wildlife and our precious hospital, please donate today or get in touch with us at donate@cws.org.au.