Who to help?

The AIM Network

5 years ago

In response to the tragedies our country was suffering – and still suffering – before Christmas we notified AIMN readers that:

We here at The AIMN would like to help in some small way, therefore we have decided that all donations received on Christmas Day and Boxing Day will be forwarded on to the Australian Bushfire Appeal.

We were overwhelmed to receive $753 (which we rounded up to $800) and we thank those who donated to The AIMN.

Then came a stumbling block: Who to help? Any number of charities came under the umbrella of the Australian Bushfire Appeal and we couldn’t decide which one to donate to. In the meantime, disaster after disaster kept breaking our hearts.

Eventually we decided to donate the money to SAVEM (South Australian Veterinary Emergency Management) because of their work with injured koalas on Kangaroo Island, where half of the population of 50,000 koalas had perished.

Why did we choose them above others? It was this report that we found from July last year; Kangaroo Island koalas may save the koala species that decided it for us. The report explained that:

South Australia’s Kangaroo Island koalas have been found to be free from the disease that is threatening koala populations around Australia, particularly in Australia’s north-east where populations are declining dramatically.

Scientists led by the University of Adelaide have discovered that, unlike every other large population in Australia, Kangaroo Island koalas are free from infection by Chlamydia pecorum. This bacterial infection is the most significant disease causing death in koalas, and a key factor in koalas being under threat in north-eastern Australia.

(You might like to also read: Rescuers are warned not to take koalas off fire-ravaged Kangaroo Island because they are the only ones in the country without chlamydia).

We hope that the reasons for our decision to donate to SAVEM are supported by those wonderful readers who donated to our appeal.