VET VIBES
In the aftermath
veterinarians who voluntarily stepped into the mayhem determined to do all they could to ease suffering and save lives, is nothing short of inspiring. Based in Grafton, some kilometres south of Lismore, a concerned Dr Oliver Liyou of Equine Veterinary and Dental Services
Dr Oliver Liyou spoke to AMANDA MAC about coordinating the emergency response to horses injured during the recent NSW floods.
(EVDS) was trying to establish the severity of the problem for horse owners in the flooded region. “I was liaising with our local Land Services vet who unfortunately, because their 1800 help hotline wasn’t busy, thought there wasn’t much of an issue,” he tells me. “It turned out that the 1800 number either wasn’t well-known, or was on a fridge magnet attached to a fridge that by then was floating out to sea, or that phones were down – whatever the reason, it was a big fail.” Fortunately, Dr Oliver was also in touch with Lismore vet Dr Bruno Ross. Bruno, along with Vet Vibes’ Dr Doug English, who had driven down from Queensland to assist, was well aware of the immensity of the problem. Along with several other large animal vets working out of Primex in nearby Casino, they were treating horses with multiple lacerations and, in Dr Doug’s words, “chests full of dirty mud.” Horses were dying and the situation couldn’t have been more serious. Now with insight into the extent of the disaster, Dr Oliver set up a virtual meeting, inviting vets he’d noticed offering their services on Facebook to
O
participate. “I could see things were really
n 28th February, the Northern
flooded streets to rescue people
Rivers of NSW experienced
clinging to their rooves, often with family
catastrophic flooding. The
pets by their side.
human impact of that event and the devastation left in its wake is beyond
disjointed, to the point where I heard of three vets scrambling to get to the same horse – and when I say scrambling, they were trying to get there by boat, chopper,
For the region’s livestock, the situation
whatever. So I thought this is crazy, this
was every bit as dire. Many hundreds of
needs to be coordinated.”
comprehension. Many people lost
cattle and horses were either drowned,
everything – their homes, their
trapped in flooded paddocks, or had
businesses, and heartbreakingly, some
suffered horrific injuries. Some are still
lost their lives.
unaccounted for.
Who can forget images of locals in an
The way people pull together in times
Weir, but their ranks quickly swelled.
flotilla of tinnies, canoes and kayaks,
of crisis is always profoundly moving,
“Sally Armstrong, a vet from South Africa
making endless trips along Lismore’s
and the work done by a team of
holidaying in Tasmania at the time,
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Besides Doctors Oliver, Bruno and Doug, the initial vet rescue team included Nikita Stibbard, Megan Kearney, Pip Bacon, Lu Fenny and Joe
