From bushfires to floods - 2020 was a year of extremes.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
And for the veterinary industry, alarm bells started ringing.
Border-based vet, businesswoman and farmer Stephanie Stubbe is calling on the agriculture industry to "step up and be on the ball" when it comes to animal welfare during variable weather conditions.
"Last year was pretty disconcerting," Dr Stubbe told The Border Mail.
"In the vet world we are definitely feeling the impacts a lot more, both from an agricultural perspective but also at the RSPCA shelter and the wildlife that is coming in.
"A lot of us have hit an alarm, alarm bells are now ringing and it has kicked us into action."
Dr Stubbe said a new report released by the Climate Council this week found the cost of extreme weather such as bushfires, floods and cyclones had almost doubled since the 1970s.
The report, lead by Professor Will Steffan, said extreme weather events in Australia had cost the country more than $35 billion in the past decade, with that figure set to worsen in years to come.
It's estimated that by 2038, extreme weather events could cost the national economy $100 billion each year.
IN OTHER NEWS:
Dr Stubbe said the impacts of the summer bushfires, which weren't included in the report due to the cost still being calculated, kicked farmers along the NSW, Victorian border into climate action.
"What we are advising farming clients is that they need to be on the ball," she said.
"They need to be predicting that these patterns are going to be changing, their farming model, their economy, their business models, their breeding, genetics, there is a lot to think about and get their heads around in regards to coping with the variability in the weather.
"As a product of the bushfires, being very close to our area, a lot of farmers are getting on the front foot with their animal welfare.
"That is sometimes a really hard pill to swallow for farmers and the amount of livestock they are actually carrying. Can their land, pasture, water actually service them during this variability."
Dr Stubbe said heat waves were also impacting wild animals and she had seen countless distressed animals brought in to the RSPCA shelter she works at part-time in Melbourne.
"We get a huge amount of young possums that come through, they literally fall out of the trees in heat distress, heat shock and they are unable to look after themselves and get themselves back to where they are meant to be," she said.
"It just spikes in heat waves."