Most of us animal lovers are heartbroken over the devastation of the wildfires in Australia. One thing that is amazing about social media is how it can bring people together during a time of need. As a doctor, I have the privilege of belonging to an international group of veterinarians on social media. Many of the veterinarians from Australia are posting updates with supply needs for both private practice or wildlife rescue/rehabilitation. Although donated supplies are helpful and appreciated, they are expensive to ship and labor intensive for the teams to sort and distribute.
We all want to help animals impacted by the fires and the people that care for them. I learned about how the AVMA (American Veterinary Medical Association) and AVMF (American Veterinary Medical Foundation) are helping to get financial aid to the AVA (Australian Veterinary Association). I wanted to pass on a reliable website where our community can donate to help. This is from the AVMA website:
https://www.avma.org/blog/how-can-you-help-australia
We’ve been in contact with the Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) to discuss how we in the United States can provide comfort or relief, and they’ve indicated that financial support is
the best way to help. With that guidance, the AVMA and our charitable foundation, the Amer-
ican Veterinary Medical Foundation (AVMF), today pledged a sizable donation for wildfire re- lief.
The AVMA is donating $25,000 for wildfire assistance in Australia. In addition, the AVMF has promised to match individual donations up to $50,000. With your help, this could make the total combined contribution $125,000. All of the donations will go to the Australian Veterinary Association’s Benevolent Fund, which will give financial aid to veterinarians who are helping animals impacted by the fires. This includes both veterinarians who have lost their own property and those who have provided charitable care for impacted animals.
Here is their direct website to donate. Where it says apply my do-
nation to, click on Disaster Relief-AVA Benevolent Fund. https://
www.avmf.org/forms/donate-to-avmf/
