Veterinary scene down under: Volunteer rescuers and a new wildlife hospital

Vets for Compassion

Vets for Compassion is a charitable organization of volunteer veterinarians, veterinary technicians, and animal rescuers who provide urgent, humane rescue services and on-the-ground veterinary care for stray, displaced, or injured animals, including wildlife, companion animals, and livestock, primarily in Melbourne.

The organization was founded in 2016 by Elaine Ong, AM, BVSc. The team also responds during natural disasters in Victoria, providing a critical service that supports local and government responders.

“Our entire team are volunteers, and we have teams of field emergency responders—including 14 people with dart gun licenses—and every day across Melbourne and beyond, we respond to all species and specialize in the humane capture of large animals that are injured or displaced, such as kangaroos, deer, and farm animals,” Ong told dvm360®.

“During natural disasters such as bushfires and floods, we have a trained emergency team of veterinarians, veterinary [technicians], rescuers, and experienced darters that can respond quickly. We were the first responders in the Mallacoota bushfires in 2020, assisted the NSW Government at the Lismore floods in New South Wales in 2022, and have attended every bushfire in Victoria since Vets for Compassion was formed.”

Ong was determined to build Vets for Compassion on a strong ethical foundation, with a skilled, agile team that could respond quickly and with everyone in the organization working on the ground.

“Together with the veterinarians and veterinary nurses from my clinic, Balwyn Central Veterinary Hospital, we were doing teaching and dog and cat sterilization programs in Bali and bushfire response work for wildlife in Victoria since 2007,” Ong said.

“We also did veterinary volunteer work during the 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka and co-founded, with international nonprofit charity Action for Compassion, Together—the Train the Trainer Project in China in 2009, training vets on anesthetics, pain relief, desexing surgery, and animal welfare work. I subsequently founded Vets for Compassion in 2016 at the encouragement of 3 of my good clients.”

In 2009, Ong received the University of Melbourne’s Belle Reid Medal for her significant contributions to animal welfare through her pioneering projects and volunteer work.

“Vets for Compassion has been a labor of love alongside my husband, Chris, and together we train new darters from within and outside the organization and teach skills and share resources with other groups,” Ong said.

“I am proud of the fact that we are the only veterinary organization in Victoria that has humane capture capabilities and responds to animals of all species—not just native wildlife, but companion and farm animals too.”

In 2023, Ong was awarded the Member of the Order of Australia Medal in recognition of her animal rescue work during disasters in Victoria and New South Wales, particularly her leadership in recruiting, motivating, and training veterinarians and veterinary nurses to form effective teams that assist stray, injured, and displaced animals daily and during disasters.

Margaret River Wildlife Hospital

The first dedicated wildlife hospital in Western Australia’s south-west region is a collaborative partnership between 2 wildlife organizations, WA Wildlife and Wildlife Recovery Australia, and will deliver veterinary care to the area’s diverse wildlife species.

“The Margaret River Wildlife Hospital is a new veterinary hospital in Margaret River dedicated to native wildlife. It includes a dedicated surgery, treatment area, consultation rooms, wildlife triage and intake areas, and facilities for holding and monitoring patients,” Meg Rodgers, BSc, BVMS, MVS, chief veterinary officer at WA Wildlife, told dvm360.

“Veterinary and veterinary nursing staff will be available every day, providing a service for wildlife rehabilitators throughout the region as well as accepting wildlife presented by members of the public, wildlife rescue organizations, and through the hospital’s transport service.”

Western Australia’s south-west is a global biodiversity hotspot, and Rodgers said an important part of the hospital’s operation will be connecting wildlife across the region with veterinary care.

“The associated transport service will help transport animals from across the region to Margaret River for assessment and treatment, with the hospital intended to service an area extending broadly from Bunbury through to Denmark,” Rodgers said.

“The hospital will work closely with local wildlife rehabilitation organizations, providing veterinary consultations and treatment for animals already in their care, as well as accepting new wildlife patients requiring assessment and treatment. Once veterinary care is complete, animals can be placed with experienced local rehabilitators for the next stage of their recovery.”

The idea for the collaboration came about when Wildlife Recovery Australia’s mobile wildlife hospital, Matilda, was in Western Australia as part of a national tour when Tropical Cyclone Narelle struck the state.

“The Wildlife Recovery Australia team became involved in the wildlife response alongside WA Wildlife, and that experience brought our 2 organizations together. Our CEO, Dean Huxley, and Wildlife Recovery Australia’s CEO, Stephen Van Mil, realized that both organizations had coincidentally been working toward the same goal to improve regional capacity for wildlife medicine in the south-west of Western Australia,” Rodgers said.

“There was a significant gap in wildlife veterinary capacity in the south-west and an opportunity to combine the experience, resources, and capabilities of both organizations to address it. The subsequent detection of H5 avian influenza in Western Australia earlier in 2026 made that need even more pressing. Wildlife rehabilitation sector consultation associated with the response also highlighted the limited veterinary infrastructure available for wildlife in the region.”

The 2 organizations combined ideas and worked together on grant applications, sponsorship requests, and business development strategies to make the hospital a reality.

“It has been a genuine collaboration between WA Wildlife and Wildlife Recovery Australia, bringing together the resources of both organizations. The H5 bird flu threat has also reinforced why dedicated wildlife veterinary infrastructure is so important. The hospital has the capacity to receive wildlife and undertake appropriate triage, testing, quarantine, and, where required, humane euthanasia. It can also contribute to government disease surveillance by facilitating sampling and providing information about disease patterns and presentations being observed in wildlife,” Rodgers said.

“Importantly, however, the new wildlife hospital is not just an H5 bird flu facility. It will continue to provide veterinary care to the broader wildlife caseload during a response, supporting wildlife rehabilitators and working with local groups to facilitate appropriate placement and ongoing rehabilitation,” Rodgers added.