Douglasville, Georgia – The Cultural Arts Council of Douglasville/Douglas (CAC) is excited to partner with The Animal Rescue Craft Guild – America to create items for animal rescue efforts around Australia. This effort is 100 percent volunteer-run and all items are donated free of charge to rescues.
The blazes, which have been burning across Australia for months, have razed homes and wiped out entire towns. Across Australia, nearly 18 million acres of land have been burned — much of it bushland, forests and national parks, home to the country’s beloved and unique wildlife.
Volunteers around the world are sewing pouches for Australia’s orphaned or injured kangaroos, koalas and bats. Nearly half a billion animals have been impacted by the fires in New South Wales alone, with millions potentially dead, according to ecologists at the University of Sydney. That figure includes birds, reptiles, and mammals, except bats. It also excludes insects and frogs — meaning the true number is likely much higher. The total number of animals affected nationwide could be as high as a billion, according to Christopher Dickman, the University of Sydney ecologist who led the report.
Fires are nothing new in Australia, but they have been growing more intense and becoming more destructive in recent years and animals have been on the front lines — Australia has the highest rate of species loss of any area in the world, and researchers fear that rate could increase as the fire disaster continues. The effects of the Australian bushfires on the country’s animals have been immense and devastating, and the blazes show no signs of slowing. So the crafters won’t slow down either.
Volunteers with the Animal Rescue Craft Guild are nimbly sewing pouches and blankets for the orphaned and displaced animals, from kangaroo joeys to bats to sugar gliders, that have been injured in the blazes. The guild operates across five states in the USA and the CAC is proud to be one of the locations to provide assistance. Volunteers are given templates and free rein to create as many items as they can that will be donated to rescue centers taking the animals into shelter.
For more information about items needed and free templates, please contact the CAC at info@artsdouglas.org or phone 770.949.2787.