Bart Bear's Blog

The fires and floods have me horrified. So much destroyed and so many people dead. It's incredibly sad. One thing that seems to get forgotten is that it's not just people and property, there are lots of animals caught in there too. Help comes in from all over for people, but the poor little critters often get forgotten. I guess some critters like snakes and crocs don't mind floods, but everything hates bushfires. Those pictures of my koala relatives being helped by firemen made me determined to do something to help. There is a team called "Help for Wildlife" based near Kinglake, right in one of the worst-hit areas, doing great work rescuing and treating hurt animals and birds. They urgently need all sorts of vetenary supplies. Now small bears don't have much of this sort of thing around the house, so what to do? Step 1, check the medicine cupboard for bandages. Step 2, empty my money box and get the money for more bandages. Step 3, go shopping with Mum and buy small animal sized bandages. Step 4 (most difficult but most productive), find out from Mum how to shame Dad into making a cheque for the group to buy medicines with (cheques are like promises of money that magically turn into money at the other end). Step 5, buy an envelope big enough to hold bandages, cheque and letter. Step 6, get the Oldies to drive me down to the Post Office. Step 7, get the Post Office lady to weigh the envelope and put the stamps on. Then for the final, Step 8, struggle up the side of the postbox to the mail slot and drop the envelope in. This was a real struggle. I had to hold the lid thing down with one foot and use my head pressed against the top of the opening to make sure the lid didn't flip shut, tossing me into the mailbag. After all, I hadn't been stamped and wasn't going anywhere. Then toss the envelope in, hear it go"thunk" into the mail pile, release the lid (avoiding being tossed), and climb back down. If it hadn't been so important I would have let one of the Oldies post the envelope. Anyhow, it is on the the way and by Monday afternoon my bandages will be on burnt koalas and possums and things down in Victoria. I feel really happy about that.
If you can help too, send stuff to Help for Wildlife, PO Box 181, Coldstream, Vic 3770. The poor critters down there will thank you, and so will I.

Labels: animals