The summer of 2019-2020 will long be remembered in Australia\nas a dark and desperate time. Mere months before the world was engulfed by a\nglobal pandemic, much of our country was aflame. By the end of January 2020,\nmore than 5 million hectares of land had been burned in New South Wales alone,\nincluding almost 40 per cent of the state\u2019s National Parklands. Less than three\nmonths later, the newly-established National Bushfire Recovery Agency announced\nthat Australia\u2019s catastrophic bushfire season had killed 33 people including\nnine firefighters, ravaged more than 12 million hectares of land, destroyed more\nthan 3000 homes and devastated native flora and fauna populations nationwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
And yet, out of darkness, came tales bursting with light: stories\nof survival, of mateship, of heroism \u2013 many of them involving the selfless\nactions of volunteers. Some saved lives, some saved property. One extraordinary\nstory highlighted the success of a small team of remote area firefighting\nspecialists who were deployed to save a stand of critically endangered Wollemi\npines from the gigantic Gospers Mountain fire in the Blue Mountains of New\nSouth Wales. A much larger number of people, however, banded together across\nthe Australia to save animals of all kinds. Livestock, domestic pets, and\nnative fauna populations were all directly impacted by the bushfires, and an\narmy of volunteers mobilised to save as many animals as they could.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nicole Rojas Marin was one such volunteer, directly involved\nin the evacuation of Australia Walkabout Wildlife Park in Calga, north of\nSydney, in November 2019. All the animals at the popular wildlife sanctuary, including\na substantial number of Eastern Grey Kangaroos, had to be relocated to\ndifferent safe locations as bushfires closed in. \u201cSeeing and being part of a\nteam that had an evacuation plan and strategy to protect all their animals was\nvery inspiring,\u201d Rojas Marin said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In March 2020, shortly after one of the worst bushfire\nseasons on record drew to a close, Rojas Marin began working with the\nAustralian branch of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), where\nshe oversees wildlife rescues and responses and is also part of a team\nimplementing disaster preparedness projects. \u201cAs IFAW\u2019s Animal Rescue Program\nOfficer I liaise with carers, vets and wildlife rescue groups across Australia\nto identify their needs and coordinate rescue, rehabilitation and recovery\nprojects,\u201d she said. \u201cA big part of my job is to work with these groups and\ngovernments in disaster response, and my veterinary nursing skills mean I can\nalso be deployed when needed to assist groups and carers on the ground\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although she currently works in a veterinary nurse capacity in\nher role as Animal Rescue Program Officer, Rojas Marin also has a bachelor\u2019s\ndegree in Veterinary Medicine at the University of Environmental and Applied\nSciences in Bogot\u00e1, which she was\nawarded in 2016. \u201cI was born in Sydney and raised in Colombia, where I\nwas lucky enough to grow up in a very tight-knit and loving family,\u201d she said. \u201cMy\nparents are both animal lovers and I grew up in a household where pets and all\nanimals were always respected.\u201d Describing herself as the second oldest of five\nhuman siblings and three four-legged ones, Rojas Marin loved animals from an\nearly age. \u201cWith time, I learned that some of my favourite animals and other\namazing species were being threatened by multiple factors,\u201d she explained, \u201cand\nI decided becoming a vet would put me on the path where I could to something\nabout that, and I could be part of the solution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After Rojas Marin graduated from vet school, where she was\nthe recipient of the University\u2019s Academic Scholarship Award several times\nduring the course of her studies, she returned to Australia. \u201cI knew I wanted\nto come back to Australia and continue to work with the country\u2019s unique,\namazing and threatened wildlife,\u201d she said, \u201cand I wanted to work with projects\nseeking to protect these animals and their habitats\u201d. Rojas Marin enjoyed her\nfirst direct experience of working with native Australian animals in 2013, when\nshe volunteered for a month at a mixed practice veterinary hospital in\nPalmerston in the Northern Territory. \u201cI had the opportunity to observe, assist\nand learn from incredible vets working with Australian wildlife,\u201d she recalled.\n\u201cIt was the first time I held and bottle fed a wallaby joey!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her experiences in the Northern Territory motivated Rojas\nMarin to start volunteering at a rehabilitation centre when she returned to\nColombia in 2014. There she encountered many animals rescued from trafficking,\nincluding jaguars and other big cats, boa constrictors, and monkeys. She also worked\nclosely with brown-throated three-toed sloths (Bradypus\nvariegatus<\/em>) and vulnerable species\nsuch as spectacled bears (Tremarctos ornatus<\/em>). Her passion for wildlife conservation was truly\nignited:\n\u201cColombia is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world and wildlife\ntrafficking is a huge problem,\u201d Rojas Marin explained. \u201cI\u2019ve always loved\nanimals and been committed to protecting them, but when I worked with\nthreatened species in Colombia and learned several species in Australia were\nalso endangered, it became clear to me that I wanted to dedicate my career to environmental conservation and\nwildlife protection\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Returning again to Australia in 2015, Rojas Marin embarked\non a seven-month internship at Australia Walkabout Wildlife \u2013 the same wildlife\nsanctuary she was to assist in evacuating less than five years later. Under the\nmentorship of Dr Robin Crisman, she was involved in the veterinary care and\nrehabilitation of native wildlife, and also took on a role as a project manager\nundertaking species research into the Greater Bilby (Macrotis lagotis)<\/em>. Crisman\nalso referred her to the team at Taronga Zoo, which resulted in Rojas Marin\nundertaking a short internship at the Taronga Wildlife Hospital as a veterinary\nassistant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Realising her South American veterinary qualification was\nnot recognised in Australia, Rojas Marin opted to undertake a Diploma in\nManagement and Leadership in 2016-2017 to complement her existing skillset. She\ndeveloped her abilities by volunteering for WWF Australia and the 2017 Earth\nHour campaign, gaining a greater understanding of project organisation, data\nanalysis and knowledge management. \u201cDown the line, these roles opened multiple\nprofessional opportunities for me at various non-government organisations\nwithin the wildlife protection industry,\u201d Rojas Marin said. She also completed\na Certificate IV in Veterinary Nursing in 2018 to allow her to use her\nveterinary knowledge and practical skills in the field. \u201cBeing a vet nurse\nstill allows me to be involved and help when I\u2019m needed,\u201d she said. \u201cAlso, from\nearly on I knew I wanted to focus on project management, so even though I would\nlove for my degree to be recognised here, there are so many other roles I can\ntake on and I have been able to work in the industry on some amazing projects\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rojas Marin\u2019s latest role with IFAW is, in many ways, her\ndream job \u2013 particularly since she enjoys working with animals but also\nappreciates the opportunity to engage with people to promote the causes she is\npassionate about. \u201cI love the chance to be out in the field, working directly\nwith and treating animals, but I also know how important the projects and\ninitiatives that seek to ensure these animals thrive into the future are,\u201d she\nsaid. \u201cI enjoy working with people and experts to learn about and advocate for\nthe best ways to protect animals. Being part of the IFAW team has allowed me to\nbe part of an equation that seeks not only to solve core wildlife conservation\nissues, but also to help those in this sector do the groundwork.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most recently, Rojas Marin has been assisting groups who\nhave experienced an influx of animals requiring care after the March 2021\nfloods in New South Wales. \u201cThis has involved donating incubators, food, tanks\nand enclosures and other items for temporary relief to groups such as\nAustralian Seabird Rescue and Hunter Wildlife Rescue,\u201d she said. Rojas Marin\ncounts working with marine turtles alongside Australian Seabird Rescue as one\nof the projects closest to her heart. \u201cWhen you live in Australia it is\nimpossible not to fall in love with the ocean,\u201d she said. \u201cThis ecosystem and\nits animals are fascinating, but I also love working with marine turtles\nbecause the majority of the animals they rescue, rehabilitate and release are\nendangered or critically endangered species, and supporting initiatives like\nthis is a big part of why I do what I do\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ever keen to update her skills, from January to April 2021\nRojas Marin has been receiving veterinary training in wildlife treatment and\ncare from the Taronga Conservation Society, which is linked to the NSW Koala\nStrategy. The NSW Koala Strategy aims to improve koala health and safety and\nbuild knowledge to improve koala conservation. \u201cThis is another matter very\nclose to my heart and to my work at IFAW,\u201d Rojas Marin commented. \u201cKoala\npopulations were already on a knife-edge before the bushfires, but the blazes\nhad a catastrophic impact on them, especially in NSW.\u201d A report commissioned as\npart of the Strategy found that more than six thousand koalas perished in the\nbushfires in NSW alone, representing nearly 15% of the total population state\nwide. \u201cEach individual koala we can rescue, rehabilitate and release is\nessential to the survival of an entire population and the species itself, she\nsaid. \u201cThe NSW Koala Strategy is integral to giving vets and vet nurses the\nskills needed to treat koalas that come into their care\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the cataclysmic bushfire season of 2019-2020 only a\nrecent memory, Rojas Marin is especially invested in working with IFAW\u2019s\ninternational disaster response team, which helps prepare wildlife carers and\ngroups for emergencies and natural disasters. \u201cAt the moment, we are working on\na disaster toolkit which is a global resource offering sets of online courses\nwith guidelines and tools for wildlife carers and other groups that allows them\nto prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters,\u201d she explained. Designed\nwith input from local stakeholders, the toolkit is able to be tailored to fit\nspecific sites, species and cultural specificities, and can be scaled to suit\nthe resources and needs of each particular group and the magnitude and type of\ndisaster they are responding to. \u201cThe objective is to help ensure wildlife\ngroups and carers can prepare for events that occur outside the range of their\nnormal operations and which many adversely affect their organisation\u2019s ability\nto respond,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not surprisingly, Rojas Marin is also keen to encourage\nveterinarians and veterinary nurses to embrace both education and volunteering\nwithin the wildlife conservation sector. \u201cI believe it is so important for vets\nand vet nurses to be regularly up-skilling and getting on the ground\nexperience,\u201d she said. \u201cAny experience we can get volunteering or working out\nin the field with wildlife is vital to building our skills in dealing with all\ntypes of animals in different situations. Wildlife treatment is such an\nevolving field that everything we can learn could potentially save an animal\u2019s\nlife or positively affect the prognosis or outcome of an animal in our care\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rojas Marin practices what she preaches and, in addition to\nher work with IFAW, is planning to pursue a post-graduate Masters program in\nWildlife Conservation in the near future. She also hopes at some point to\nreturn to Colombia and lead a project to help jaguars or spectacled bears. In\nthe meantime, however, Nicole Rojas Marin remains committed to wildlife\nconservation here in the country of her birth and beyond, lighting the way to\nimproved disaster responses and better future prospects for native fauna in\nAustralia and around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n JAI HUMEL<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The summer of 2019-2020 will long be remembered in Australia as a dark and desperate time. Mere months before the world was engulfed by a global pandemic, much of our country was aflame. By the end of January 2020, more than 5 million hectares of land had been burned in New South Wales alone, including […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2760,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[1540,78,461,2170],"class_list":["post-2759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-biography","tag-face-to-face","tag-feature","tag-nicole-rojas-marin"],"rise-blocks_total_comments":0,"rise-blocks_categories":[{"term_id":67,"name":"Features","slug":"features","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":68,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":63,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":67,"category_count":63,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Features","category_nicename":"features","category_parent":0}],"rise-blocks_excerpt":"The summer of 2019-2020 will long be remembered in Australia as a dark and desperate time. Mere months before the world was engulfed by a global pandemic, much of our country was aflame. 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