Five horses die in Australian bushfires

While the UK has endured the worst floods in history it’s hard to imagine parts of Australia are suffering massive bushfires.

Horses killed

One fire in Scotsburn, which is 120km from the city of Melbourne, saw five horses killed, while the neighbouring equestrian centre managed to save all of its horses.

The quick-thinking owner of Unicorn Park Stud & Equestrian Centre rescued all 30 of her horses, by putting them under sprinklers in the indoor arena.

“When the fire was 7.6km away I put my fire plan into action, so all the arenas were watered,” said Tracy Landt. “As we were bringing the horses in we watched the fire for an hour, as it travelled south.

“When the wind changed it was here within less than a minute.”

Suffering burns

Thanks to the bravery of those at Unicorn Park the horses were unharmed in the fire.

Sadly, five horses on a neighbouring property weren’t so lucky and had to be put down after suffering burns on up to 40 percent of their body. According to Tracey it took the vets 18 hours to arrive.

“Vets need to come in a lot earlier,” she told ABC news. “These horses suffered for 18 hours before being destroyed, with us looking after them, which was absolutely heart-breaking.”

Rebuild business

While Tracy is grateful her horses are alive and well, she has no paddocks to turn them out in as her fencing was destroyed in the fire. The water pipes were also damaged, so she has no running water, and has lost all her feed and hay.

Vital funds are being raised via a crowdfunding website, which she hopes will enable her to rebuild her business.