A wildlife carer who was convicted of animal cruelty for nursing an injured kangaroo was “treated unfairly”, and her case raises a “grey area” about the role of all volunteers in the animal rescue sector, a court has heard.
Former WIRES volunteer Tracy Clare Dods, 55, of Kanimbla in the Blue Mountains was found guilty in March of aggravated animal cruelty for not taking Dolores, a female eastern grey kangaroo with injuries from a barbed wire fence, to a veterinarian between February 20 and March 8, 2021.
Tracy Dods with some of her supporters outside the Downing Centre during a court break on Thursday. Credit: Louise Kennerley
The animal entered Dods’ care in October 2020 and was euthanised in March 2021 when WIRES veterinarian Dr David Phalen and RSPCA inspector Anthony Croker raided her property.
The guilty verdict sent shockwaves through the wildlife rescue community, with many carers rattled by the prospect of personal legal risk. Dods, who had looked after hundreds of kangaroos over several years as a WIRES volunteer, provided daily care to Dolores for nearly five months and the magistrate in Katoomba Local Court did not find she had been deliberately cruel.
In the appeal hearing before Judge Nanette Williams in the District Court over two days last week, wildlife carer and trainer Dr Rose
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