I'm Carola, a licensed wildlife carer in the Otways, Victoria. Only weeks into 2026, we experienced one of the most devastating times in our lives when a bushfire tore through our beautiful region.

On the night of the 24th Jan, my husband Ron and I were in the direct line of the fire front. We evacuated, not knowing what would happen to our shelter, and all of the now wild animals who call it home.

While firefighters thankfully managed to save our house, over 100 acres of our property burnt, including all of our shelter infrastructure.

For over 20 years we have worked to build our shelter to raise, rehabilitate and release native animals. In a single night, it was all destroyed.

Our aviaries and kangaroo release pens have all gone, and there is a huge cleanup job ahead of us.

We want to get ‘back on our feet’ as soon as possible as we know there are animals in our area relying on us. Already a little orphaned kangaroo joey has come into care, and we urgently need to rebuild our kangaroo run.

One Australian charity has generously offered to match gifts up to $12 000- which is half of what we need. If we raise this, they will fund the remaining amount and work can begin.

We are devastated but hopeful. Hopeful because the community has been so caring to everyone impacted during this disaster, and now we are calling on generous wildlife loving Victorians and beyond to help us rebuild an recover from this disaster.

And we are hopeful because we know there are survivors here. We have seen and heard them in a small refuge of unburnt bush on the property- kangaroos, koalas and wallabies. We can replace infrastructure, but we can’t replace their precious lives.

If you can please contribute, any amount will be doubled to help us rebuild the Carlisle Wildlife Shelter so we can continue to help the beautiful natives who need us here in the Otways.