Following the brush fires that swept through parts of Australia including New South Wales this summer, a horse hospital set up for animals that were burned in the fire at Coonabarabran in north-west New South Wales, has sent most of its patients home.
Raging brush fire in Australia
A horse hospital that was set up at the local high school during raging brush fires in New South Wales to safely house and treat burned horses has sent most of its patiences home.
© 2013 by OscarIII
The rescue center was set up in the ag plot of the local high school as a place for landholders to safely house their horses. The number of horses that were burned in the fires and have been treated is not given, nor is the number of animals that perished in the fires available, but the fires destroyed at least 33 homes along with many corrals and pasture areas.
The secretary of the local pony club, Rebecca Moxham says some horses will continue to be treated for burns on alternative properties
"It was very good to be able to have them in town and under a shaded area for them to continue their treatment with the vet on [no-glossart]hand.
"It enabled the people to go home and start preparing to bring the animals home which they now have."
The brush fires have been largely controlled, but fire fighters throughout the affected areas declared that they were some of the most destructive and relentless fires to ever strike the area. With summer temperatures topping 110 degrees in places, authorities evacuated national parks and warned that hot, dry and windy conditions had raised the threat level to catastrophic.
No deaths have been reported, but officials in Tasmania are still trying to find a number of people who have been missing since a fire tore through the small town east of the state capital last week, destroying around 90 homes.