While most people associate the RSPCA with rescue cats and dogs, their remit covers all creatures great and small – including livestock.
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Glen Innes RSPCA NSW volunteers Brigitte Burridge and Judy Fraser were determined to do something to help farmers in drought relief.
“Being in New England – one of the most intensive areas of cattle and sheep in NSW – we asked what we could do,” Brigitte said.
They were able to give thousands of dollars worth of animal food and nutritional supplements to farmers and graziers around the region, as far away as Bolivia and Tenterfield.
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The RSPCA volunteers put aside two months’ worth of fundraising from market stalls, cake and biscuit sales to buy $1000 worth of urea salt lick blocks, a nutritional supplement for cattle.
The first round of salt lick blocks went to Pinkett, south-east of Glen Innes, where families and properties had suffered in an August fire that spread over 1400 hectares, and took days to control.
One block can last ten head of cattle for about a week, especially if they’re eating hay.
They bought the blocks from Colin Say & Co. Rural, who had donated a whole truckload of hay to the Pinkett families.
"As soon as we heard that at our meeting,” Brigitte said, “we just shot down there to buy the stuff, because we want to support them."
Long-term Pinkett resident Phillip Duddy distributed the items to the families.
For their second round, Brigitte and Judy bought the blocks from Norco Rural Glen Innes.
David Donnelly – behind the “R U Aware We Care” fund-raising campaign – distributed the blocks to Glen Elgin, Bald Knob, Bolivia, Wellingrove, Dundee, and Tenterfield.
They also distributed an estimated $2000 worth of dog food.
Coles Glen Innes manager Anthony Veldhuizen provided $500 worth of broken bags, from the supermarkets’ warehouse in Brisbane.
"That was outstanding," Brigitte said. "They are not permitted to sell that food, but there's no regulation for us. We can pass it onto all the community."
The Glen Innes community also donated dog food from bins at Coles, Woolworths, council offices in Church Street, and Glenrac.
“We wanted to say thanks to the local community for their generous donations,” Brigitte said. “We couldn't have done it without them.”
Brigitte and Judy discovered that there was a strong need for help locally.
“We recognised by talking with local graziers and farmers that although the drought was worse down south out and west, people nearby were struggling too,” Brigitte said.
A wife in her 70s, for instance, tried to feed stock, while her husband was in hospital with pneumonia. Other farmers had barely fed their stock for more than 12 months.
“We wanted to help and acknowledge these people,” Brigitte said.
“Reaching out to them would make a difference, even if just showing our community cares. For local people to know they had helped us – and it was helping local people – was very important.”
“All we can do is our little bit,” Judy said, “and I feel for our little town and as small an organization as us, we've done well.”
They thank Coles and Anthony Veldhuizen for the huge amount of dog food donated; David Donnelly and Phillip Duddy for distributing the food and blocks; the local community for their dog food donations; Colin Say & Co. Rural and Norco Rural Glen Innes for their support and help; and Glen Innes Severn Council and Glenrac, which served as depots for the dog food.