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The black summer bushfires: impacts and risk factors for livestock bushfire injury in south‐eastern Australia

BACKGROUND: The 2019/2020 Australian bushfires were the largest bushfire event in modern Australian history. While actions to mitigate risk to homes from bushfires are well reported, there is very little research reported on the impacts of bushfires on livestock. With an increasing incidence of bush...

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Autores principales: Cowled, BD, Hillman, A, Ward, MP, Clutterbuck, H, Doyle, M, Webb Ware, J, Thomas, M, Plain, K, Barwell, R, Laurence, M, Pfeiffer, C
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9546107/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35514115
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/avj.13165
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author Cowled, BD
Hillman, A
Ward, MP
Clutterbuck, H
Doyle, M
Webb Ware, J
Thomas, M
Plain, K
Barwell, R
Laurence, M
Pfeiffer, C
author_facet Cowled, BD
Hillman, A
Ward, MP
Clutterbuck, H
Doyle, M
Webb Ware, J
Thomas, M
Plain, K
Barwell, R
Laurence, M
Pfeiffer, C
author_sort Cowled, BD
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The 2019/2020 Australian bushfires were the largest bushfire event in modern Australian history. While actions to mitigate risk to homes from bushfires are well reported, there is very little research reported on the impacts of bushfires on livestock. With an increasing incidence of bushfires predicted, there is an urgent need to identify how farmers can best protect their livestock. OBJECTIVES: Compare bushfire affected farms with and without injured livestock to identify associations between risk factors and bushfire injury. Infer management approaches that can be used to reduce bushfire injury in livestock. METHOD: A case‐control study using a structured interview questionnaire, delivered in late 2020 to cattle and sheep farmers in south‐eastern Australia (New South Wales and Victoria) whose farmland was burnt in the 2019/2020 Australian bushfires. Case farms were farms with bushfires injured or killed livestock. Control farms were farms that had no bushfire injured livestock but that still had fire present on the farm. Interview responses were summarised and information theoretical approaches were used to identify potential risk factors for livestock bushfire injury and protective actions that could inform future fire‐preparation recommendations. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Of 46 farms in the case‐control study, 21 (46%) reported bushfire injured or killed livestock. Apparent protective factors identified included: preparation (having a bushfire plan and more than two farm bushfire fighting units), backburning and receiving assistance from fire authorities. Combined beef and sheep grazing enterprises appeared to have an increased risk of bushfire injury to livestock.
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spelling pubmed-95461072022-10-14 The black summer bushfires: impacts and risk factors for livestock bushfire injury in south‐eastern Australia Cowled, BD Hillman, A Ward, MP Clutterbuck, H Doyle, M Webb Ware, J Thomas, M Plain, K Barwell, R Laurence, M Pfeiffer, C Aust Vet J Production Animals BACKGROUND: The 2019/2020 Australian bushfires were the largest bushfire event in modern Australian history. While actions to mitigate risk to homes from bushfires are well reported, there is very little research reported on the impacts of bushfires on livestock. With an increasing incidence of bushfires predicted, there is an urgent need to identify how farmers can best protect their livestock. OBJECTIVES: Compare bushfire affected farms with and without injured livestock to identify associations between risk factors and bushfire injury. Infer management approaches that can be used to reduce bushfire injury in livestock. METHOD: A case‐control study using a structured interview questionnaire, delivered in late 2020 to cattle and sheep farmers in south‐eastern Australia (New South Wales and Victoria) whose farmland was burnt in the 2019/2020 Australian bushfires. Case farms were farms with bushfires injured or killed livestock. Control farms were farms that had no bushfire injured livestock but that still had fire present on the farm. Interview responses were summarised and information theoretical approaches were used to identify potential risk factors for livestock bushfire injury and protective actions that could inform future fire‐preparation recommendations. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Of 46 farms in the case‐control study, 21 (46%) reported bushfire injured or killed livestock. Apparent protective factors identified included: preparation (having a bushfire plan and more than two farm bushfire fighting units), backburning and receiving assistance from fire authorities. Combined beef and sheep grazing enterprises appeared to have an increased risk of bushfire injury to livestock. Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd 2022-05-05 2022-07 /pmc/articles/PMC9546107/ /pubmed/35514115 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/avj.13165 Text en © 2022 The Authors. Australian Veterinary Journal published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Australian Veterinary Association. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Production Animals
Cowled, BD
Hillman, A
Ward, MP
Clutterbuck, H
Doyle, M
Webb Ware, J
Thomas, M
Plain, K
Barwell, R
Laurence, M
Pfeiffer, C
The black summer bushfires: impacts and risk factors for livestock bushfire injury in south‐eastern Australia
title The black summer bushfires: impacts and risk factors for livestock bushfire injury in south‐eastern Australia
title_full The black summer bushfires: impacts and risk factors for livestock bushfire injury in south‐eastern Australia
title_fullStr The black summer bushfires: impacts and risk factors for livestock bushfire injury in south‐eastern Australia
title_full_unstemmed The black summer bushfires: impacts and risk factors for livestock bushfire injury in south‐eastern Australia
title_short The black summer bushfires: impacts and risk factors for livestock bushfire injury in south‐eastern Australia
title_sort black summer bushfires: impacts and risk factors for livestock bushfire injury in south‐eastern australia
topic Production Animals
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9546107/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35514115
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/avj.13165
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