Do as I say, Not as I do!
- Details
- Published on Sunday, 22 September 2013 17:30
In NSW it is a requirement of the Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) and National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) that all licence holders for wildlife keep accurate records for native animals that come into their care. In recent months the OEH and NPWS has been ruthlessly auditing wildlife groups and disciplining some for breaches of their responsibilities. WIRES has been exempt from these audits. While within WIRES it is quite common for the Board to threaten members with disciplinary action for not adhering to WIRES’ rules and for breaching OEH and NPWS codes.
This is an odd thing. WIRES is the largest wildlife rescue group in NSW (they claim) and the most professional (they claim). However, from evidence presented to rw, they are also the biggest offender when it comes to breaching their licence, and yet the OEH and NPWS will not audit them. This evidence presented to rw also shows that within WIRES, while the Board members threaten others for breaches, Board members themselves are doing the same or worse. The OEH appears to be turning a blind eye to WIRES misconduct, while members of the WIRES Board hide themselves away from scrutiny.
Click the link below to download a .xls spreadsheet showing all animals "in care" with WIRES (names have been removed).
*NOTE: The spreadsheet published orginally with this story picked up errors during processing - some callsheet numbers did not match correctly to the record data. This situation has been rectified. This was a processing error: There was no "tampering" involved. The numbers of records and the dates for those records as published were correct - only the species and carer details were not correctly attributed. Thank you to "Reality Check" for alerting us to the problem. rw apologises for any inconvenience.
A Case in Point
A case in point is Bill Fortier. Mr Fortier was elected Chair of WIRES in 2012. When he was elected Chair he still had unresolved bullying complaints against him. He has never given any explanation in relation to the allegation that he was asked to leave another volunteer organisation which ran a breeding program of endangered wallabies.
Bill Fortier is a member of Central Coast branch and has held positions of Chair and WSC Rep in that branch since 2006. He was elected to the Board of WIRES in 2009 and held the position of Vice Chair. Bill Fortier has been involved with all the decisions of the Board raised in the rw story “Not even... A Kurnell of Truth” and "Kurnell Allegations – Part 2" regarding WIRES’ hiring of a private investigator to hound out an employee from the organisation. He has been in a position of power on the board and so is jointly responsible for most of the other wrongs covered in the stories: “Jobs for the Boys”, “Board Grievances: Ignored Grievances”, “Democracy and WIRES Structure”, “Donor’s Money who gets it”, “Night of the steak knives”, “WIRES Fear triggers deaths of thousands” and who could forget “Oss-tray-(Lea)-ah-day, mate” about the Australia Day award he received in 2011.
His first action as Chair was to require every member of the WIRES State Council to immediately sign a confidentiality agreement to not disclose confidential material from Council meetings. No notice was given of this and Councillors had no opportunity to discuss the implications before they signed it. He told the Council he would decide what was confidential and what was not but since he became Chair he has marked all of his emails and documents as confidential – everything is secret. The result has been that members of the State Council are confused and silenced. They are scared to discuss council business with branch members for fear they will be brought up on “charges” of breaching confidentiality and the code of conduct and ultimately be expelled from WIRES. By this action Bill controls all members of the Council though fear.
His decision to conduct WIRES business in secret is not new as the WIRES Board had been filtering information it gives to the WIRES State Council for years. Neither the WSC nor the general membership has been allowed to see the minutes of Board meetings, or any of the Board records, since the Constitution came into effect in 2007. The situation continues with Bill Fortier as Chair. He appears to be confused as to his different duties and to his authority as Chair and as a Board member. This is made worse by his dictatorial style, which has allowed the Board to conduct business unchecked by the WSC and membership, leaving the Board to self-regulate when it comes to complaints. The result is that there is no transparency or accountability of the Chair and the WIRES Board.
As a dictatorial leader Bill Fortier requires his views to be accepted and if they are not, he shuts down the discussion or limits the information he gives to the Council to ensure his view triumphs. The alternative views of members are ignored and it is claimed that the members who disagree with him are persued by him under the Code of Conduct.
Beatification
Bill Fortier has 171 animals in his care... His branch records show that they have over 3,000 animals still “in care”... he must be a saint looking after so many native animals! Next stop: The Vatican!
So it is extremely ironic that ReformWires has received evidence to show that Bill Fortier and his branch are grossly in breach of the WIRES licence agreement with the Office of Environment and Heritage. While he pursues members he does not agree with in a pathetic game of cops and robbers, he blatantly breaches the requirement of the National Parks and Wildlife Service to keep proper records of wildlife in care. This can be seen from WIRES Carer HQ records which shows that Bill Fortier has 171 animals in his care: His longest suffering patient is a Magpie which was recued way back on 22/09/2007. Bill has not updated this record in 6 years. His branch records show that they have over 3,000 animals still “in care”. Bill has been the Chair of that branch for a long time so one would think he’d have taken better care of the Branch’s obligations seeing as he regularly disciplines others for similar breaches. With so many animals in care, no wonder he received an Australia Day award from Gosford Council - he must be a saint looking after so many native animals! Next stop: The Vatican!
Its supposed to be temporary
The fact that the WIRES database has 27,631 animals in care shows they are not abiding by their licence obligations
The “in care” status is recorded in the “fate” parameter on the WIRES database. It is used to indicate that an animal has been rescued and is now receiving immediate rehabilitation – the animal is deemed to be in “temporary care” awaiting determination of its ultimate “fate”. As soon as an animal is reported to wires it is marked “in care”. This status should only be temporary: Once the animal’s “fate” is determined the record should be updated to show this and the record closed. Fates may include: “released”, “euthanized”, “died”, “escaped”, “transferred to another group”, etc. To keep an animal in permanent care, approval has to be sought from NPWS and the fate of the animal should be changed to “permanently in care” and the record closed. The fact that the WIRES database has 27,631 animals in care shows they are not abiding by their licence obligations and not keeping their records as they are required to do. Not that it matters: The licensing division of NPWS will not investigate WIRES.
WIRES begs for millions of dollars every year and receives grants from government. They spend more money on staff than on any other expense. Why is WIRES with all these resources unable to comply with their most obvious and everyday licence requirements?
Even though OEH and NPWS have been alerted to this gross breach of licence on numerous occasions they fail to address it. They do however pursue other groups and individuals for far less egregious breaches. WIRES has done very little to fix the problem. One contributor to rw has explained how WIRES seems positively paranoid about anyone even attempting to address the problem
Looking for more examples of breaches of WIRES’ licence, one need go no further than the Board of WIRES:
- Jim Watt, former Board member who has tried to get back on the Board had 11 animals in care - one Brushtail Possum has been with him for over 9 years.
- Merrilee Verhoeven, Honorary (sic) Secretary, who it is understood has not had an animal in care for years, has 39 animals in care dating back to 1/07/2008 – over 5 years.
- Not to be beaten is Michael Jupp who has 55 animals in his care – the longest suffering being in his care for nearly 10 years.
The whole WIRES record keeping has been a mess for years and nothing is ever done about it and OEH / NPWS turn a blind eye to it each and every time. There are over 27,000 animals that have disappeared into the WIRES system and remain “in care”. In light of the poor condition and lack of care the organisation has to its licence requirements, it is better to say that the fate of these animals is unknown and that they don't really care. Some further examples:
- Leanne Taylor, WIRES well paid and highly competent head employee has 9 animals in care, one of them has been in her temporary care for nearly 18 months (maybe some renumeration instead of remuneration is in order).
- The Sydney Call Centre, with its highly skilled professional paid work force, under the watchful eye of Ms Tayor, has 222 records still on their books, some going back 5 years – this is odd because they only allocate rescues, they don’t actually do any care – what happened to these animals?
- One individual on the WIRES database has 1,251 animals “in care”. Some of these have been in care for nearly 5 years. This is a systemic problem which displays the lack of care and lack of ability on the part of the governing board and the management of WIRES.
According to the WIRES database:
- The average time an animal is in care is 2yrs, 4mths;
- With 1,700 members and 27,631 animals in temporary care, each member has on average over 16 animals to look after;
- The longest an animal has remained in temporary care is 9yrs, 9mths – this a little longer than Mike Jupp’s Tawny Frogmouth has been temporarily with him.
The requirements
The OEH is specific on what information is required to be recorded by wildlife rehabilitators and WIRES was consulted when preparing the new standards. OEH was alerted about the failure of WIRES to keep proper records about two years ago by concerned members but they were ignored.
WIRES is breaching its licence agreement and Bill Fortier as Chair of WIRES, is the person responsible and must now resign for allowing this ongoing breach and damage to the reputation of WIRES.
The breach is under the OEH Code of practice for injured, sick and orphaned protected fauna 2011:
Objectives
To maintain a database of fauna that has entered rehabilitation. Records of fauna admissions represent a vital resource for fauna rehabilitation groups, OEH and research institutions. They can be used to develop better treatments, educate rehabilitators, identify state-wide trends in fauna incidents and identify threatening processes.
14.1. Standards
14.1.1. Licensed fauna rehabilitation groups, zoological parks and individuals
must maintain a current register of all protected fauna reported, encountered or rescued. The register must contain the following information on each animal:
- encounter details (date, location, encounter circumstances, the animal’s condition and unique ID number)
- species data (species name, sex, age, initial weight and pouch condition if a marsupial)
- care providers (name and address of the initial assessor (see 4.1.2),
- name and address of the fauna rehabilitator)
- fate details (date, final disposition, location and any permanent marking).
These records must be submitted to the Wildlife Licensing and Management Unit of OEH in an approved electronic format on an annual basis.
14.1.2. Fauna rehabilitators must record the weight of fauna in their care so changes can be quickly identified (weighing frequency will depend on the type of care provided; see Section 8.1 Monitoring).
14.1.3. When an individual is transferred to another fauna rehabilitator or organisation for any reason, copies of its records must be transferred with it.
14.1.4. If the death of fauna is suspected to be the result of a serious disease outbreak, the fauna rehabilitator must immediately contact their fauna rehabilitation group to ascertain whether tissue analysis or a necropsy is required (see the OEH Policy and Procedures for the Identification and Management of Diseases in Fauna).
14.2. Guidelines
14.2.1. Fauna rehabilitators should record the following additional information at the time of rescue:
- who discovered the animal (name and contact details)
- when the animal was discovered (time of day)
- any treatment or food provided prior to transport.
14.2.2. Fauna rehabilitators should record the following additional information at the time of assessment by a veterinarian or experienced fauna rehabilitator:
- details of wounds, injuries, diseases and external parasites
- details of mobility
- details of abnormal behaviour
- recommended management (e.g. euthanasia or treatment).
14.2.3. Fauna rehabilitators should record the following additional information at the time of entry into a rehabilitation facility:
- standard length measurements
- identifying features if it is to be housed communally
- housing (e.g. intensive care, general) (See Section 8. Housing).
14.2.4. Fauna rehabilitators should record the following daily care information:
- details regarding the type and quantity of food/liquid ingested
- details of treatment (e.g. medication, therapy)
- details of instructions from veterinarians and species coordinators
- details of changes to general fitness and behaviour
- details of enclosure cleaning (e.g. quantity and quality of faeces/urine).
14.2.5. Fauna rehabilitators should record the following additional information regarding fate:
- if released, details regarding the type of release (hard or soft)
- if released, details regarding the condition of the animal (e.g. weight).
14.2.6. Fauna rehabilitators should keep duplicates or backups of records to avoid information being lost.
The big question is whether the Government and the Office of the Environment and Heritage have given protection to WIRES and turned a blind eye. Some suggest that OEH and NPWS doesn’t want to take away WIRES licence and finally take responsibility for wildlife care. The OEH decided a couple of years ago to undertake an audit of compliance of wildlife organisations. WIRES gave its members a warning to get its records up to date. But so far only about 3 smaller organisations have been audited and no one has been near WIRES. How can this be when WIRES is the biggest wildlife rescue organisation in NSW? It is time that a complaint is made about the workings of the OEH to the State Ombudsman.
Bill Fortier, as Chair of his own branch (yes indeed a busy fellow) is also responsible to make sure that all members of his branch keep up to date records. A look at records of some of the members of the BMC of his branch reveals that he should have spent more time making sure his branch members were complying with their obligations rather than pursuing members, so you see it really is Do as I say, not as I do.
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Comments
This is a great time of year with all of those donations rolling in from the public but we need that little bit more and WOW we’ve scooped the big one here.
Not only can we rip the unsuspecting public off but we have found a way to rip our members off as well. BRILLIANT!
Being a large organisation we can manage a large print run with our fundraiser calendars to keep the unit cost down to a minimum compared to the smaller, more effective and caring wildlife organisations. Do we pass this cost saving onto our members? Wash your mouth out. Who suggested that?
We have come up with this great idea to gouge more money from our dedicated, hardworking members. If the branches buy the calendars in bulk we can offer them a super deal at a never to be repeated price of $10 each and recommend they on-sell them at $18 and keep the $8 profit as branch fundraising. The beauty of this is, as Head Office, we have already covered our costs and gouged the branches for an extra, say $8 and we are ahead (plenty of Xmas Turkey & Champers there for the trough).
Without having to accept returns of unsold calendars, the branches have to clear them at $18 each and are stuck with any leftovers.
A quick check shows other wildlife organisations are prepared to print and supply their calendars at $10 each to the public and content with the profit they make. WIRES make a slightly larger profit (lower unit cost due high volume) from their members selling them the calendars at $10 each and leave it up to them to make any additional incremental profit for their branches as they on-sell them.
Maybe we can get away with doing the same thing with Hot-Cross Buns and Easter Eggs.
Merry Xmas.
How about “leave the ducklings in the pool. They will fly away eventually”. I ask the Mop what were they supposed to eat. Maybe Wires can supply an answer to that advice. In the public domain.
The street was a Highway and the second matter was enclosed with no foliage.
How about picking up an animal. To be cared for by a wires member who never existed. Silly me!
What does Ms Robin Parker do to earn her money. She certainly does not answer correspondence and MR Herring Nat Parks says the problems with wires is beyond their resources. Despite the offer of funding by the applicant for information. What is he hiding? Who is he protecting? Why are wires permitted to continue to withhold resources and finance designated towards wildlife rescue and care. Only 2% of donations and Government funding. I see that as Fraud. $306.000.00 unaccounted for (pissed against the wall?) We would like an answer. It seems the answer is a problem May be time to refer it to a Government auditor.
But don't be surprised if people like me are simply dismissed as disgruntled ex-members - that has always been the response from WIRES.
The carers at the front line are good people, just like carers anywhere.
It is the organisation at the top that is an embarrassing sham.
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[Reality Check: Due your allegations we checked the spreadsheet. It looks like an error occurred during processing which caused the callsheet data to be attributed to the wrong callsheet number. We have fixed that now. rw does not and will not "fiddle with" data we present here to misrepresent a situation - we do not lie. It would have been easier to have simply pointed out the inconsistency rather than throwing... you know... accusations. But thanks for alerting us to the problem anyway. Domino.]
What does it take to get OEH to audit the WIRES animal care record system?
Any other native animal welfare carer organisation who performed like WIRES would probably have their licence suspended or revoked.