A kangaroo licks its burnt limbs after escaping from the Liberation Trail fire in November 2019.Credit:Wolter Peeters
Since receiving the donations,it disbursed $16,851,624 to WIRES Incorporated,the charity’s corporate arm,which has spent the money on ongoing operations,as well as projects related to the bushfires.
At the end of the 2021 financial year,the fund was sitting on a balance of $87,226,248,just over $1.5 million less than it held in mid-2020.
Dr Bree Talbot treating a koala joey at the non-profit Byron Bay Wildlife Hospital.
The post-bushfire donations were a massive windfall for the charity,which raised about $2.5 million the year before the fires.
The organisation’s treasurer,Brett Anderson,resigned at an annual general meeting in October.The Sydney Morning Herald andThe Age have been told he left in part due to frustration at the management of the emergency fund. He declined to comment.
WIRES chief executive Leanne Taylor,in a statement to theHerald andThe Age,said the emergency fund was created to respond not only to the fires but “compounded disasters” of the drought,fires and extreme weather.
“To set the context,it is only 24 months since the peak ofthe Black Summer fires and when WIRES received extensive global support to respond to the short- and long-term impacts of the catastrophic fire season,” she said.