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Animals and Bushfire

Download information to help you include your animals in your bushfire plan and to manage your animals during and after a bushfire:

Animal Bushfire Survival Planning Poster (308Kb)

In this Topic

Animals and Bushfire Planning
It is important that everyone with animals has at least a basic plan to protect them during a bushfire. You need to do this well before any fire risk, so that everyone in your family knows what to do in an emergency.
Animal Welfare During Bushfires
Advice on taking care of livestock and domestic animals after a bushfire.
Feeding and Watering Livestock After a Bushfire
While it is important to get good quality feed into livestock as quickly as possible after a bushfire, it is most important that you do not feed them grain or pellets only.
Feeding Pellets to Livestock After a Bushfire
If you are feeding pellets to livestock, please ensure that the pellets you feed are suited to the species of livestock you are feeding.
Fire Affected Livestock - Ongoing Assessment and Care
While it's great relief for owners when their livestock survive a bushfire, it is important they keep a very close eye on their animals over the next two or three weeks as some health and welfare issues take some time to show up.
Emergency Slaughter of Livestock as a Result of Bushfire
It is important to determine whether or not the animals are fit for transport.
Disposal of Animal Carcasses
Guidance for the disposal of livestock and other animal carcasses as a result of large mortality events on farms such as bushfire or other emergency event.

After a bushfire many factors must be considered when assessing burnt livestock. Furthermore those animals not killed directly by the fire or destroyed due to injuries, must be repeatedly assessed on a daily basis after the bush fire event. Continued support for the owners will need to be considered and/or provided.

Specific guidance for various species may be found at:

Assessing bushfire burns in livestock - NSW Department of Primary Industries
Assessing cattle after a bushfire - Agriculture Victoria
Assessing sheep after a bushfire - Agriculture Victoria

For additional guidance on the emergency slaughter of livestock as a result of bushfire:

Humane destruction of livestock - NSW Department of Primary Industries

Further information:

Bushfires on Farming Properties - AgriGrowth

Wildlife and bushfires - Wildlife Management

Current bushfire alerts - Tasmania Fire Service

For information on preparing your livestock for bushfire, contact your local vet or NRE Tas:

Contact

Animal Welfare Enquiries
13 St Johns Avenue
New Town TAS 7008
Phone: 03 6165 3777
Email: AnimalWelfare.Enquiries@nre.tas.gov.au