Bushfires are stressful enough, but having a zoo of 500 animals and 23 staff adds a whole new level for the Treweek family.
Former Wakool family Mark and Lisa Treweek and their kids Cooper and William have finally been able to open their 52-acre Halls Gap Zoo after the challenges of the Grampians bushfire. Their second fire in 12 months.
“Dry lightning started the fire right down southern Grampians; it got away quite well with how dry it is around here at the moment,” said Mark.
“Then, on Boxing Day, with strong winds, it took off in a really dangerous way and got pretty close.”
With the threat of bushfire, the Treweeks mobilised and moved as many animals as they could, some going to the Treweek’s home in Stawell and others to the Ballarat Wildlife Park and Werribee Zoo.
“It depended on what wasn’t going to stress out, what was okay with moving around, heat stress, and the change of enclosures and that sort of stuff.”
“We had a lot of ins and outs of animals. Between going home to my house and then coming back, and then in the end, on Christmas day, we shipped out a heap of animals down to Werribee and a heap over to Ballarat.”
“An interesting time, a stressful time.”
Most of the animals shifted were monkeys, birds, reptiles and natives.
“We’ve got sprinklers throughout the zoo enclosures, and you’ve got to think, what’s good for the animals’ welfare, not just good for getting them out of the situation.”
“Some you just can’t move them that quickly, and other ones you can.
As the Boxing Day deadline loomed, the zoo was in the best position to protect the animals and infrastructure, with the support of a CFA strike team onsite.
“They (the CFA) use our water supply as their water supply. They set up on our front dam and they do laps of the zoo.”
“The CFA also provides a collar tank, which is like a big blow-up pool that holds 7,500 litres of water. They have a three-inch pump that runs off that, and they can run 600 metres of fire hose with 15 sprinklers.”
“We ran that through the top area here, around some of the other animals.”
“Thankfully, we didn’t have to turn it on.”
With Christmas cancelled and sleep reduced to a couple of hours here and there, the family pushed on.
“I was texting and ringing CFA guys I know, getting updates on where it is and what’s going on.”
“In February last year it got about 3k from us, and this one hit that boundary line as well.
“The February fire provided a fire break for this one.”
With the fire risk under control, Mark turned his attention to his business. The Christmas holiday period is typically the busiest time of the year for the zoo.
“We’ve lost a lot of money. We’ve got some insurance cover. We had our amazing GoFundMe donation page, which is over $90,000. It has blown my mind and is the only thing that’s got to me the whole time. People being nice and their donations and things.”
“It’s going to cover some of the costs, but we’ll still lose a lot. Basically, what it’s going to mean is all the improvements, enhancements, and new enclosures that we had planned for the next 12 months to two years, we’ll have to put a handbrake on them.”
“This is the time of year when we make our money for the whole year, for all those improvements.”
“As long as the bank’s happy, then we’re happy, but we’re happy to still be here and doing what we do.”
The event has also thrust Mark into the media spotlight. From live television interviews to endless reporter phone calls, and even TV crews on site.
The park was able to reopen on January 6 with Mark thankful for the local community support.
“A lot of locals came that day. Lots of members just came to show their support and take a day out. That was nice and as the week’s gone on, we get a few more each day.”
“There’s probably less than a quarter of the people around you would expect at this time of year. Hopefully, people realise that you wouldn’t even know there was a fire in the township of Halls Gap, there’s no smoke and blue skies.”
If you’re keen for a zoo visit, now might be the time! Interactive experiences are also available.
This article appeared in The Koondrook and Barham Bridge Newspaper, 16 January 2025.