The Australian fires have had a devastating impact on the animals the continent is known so well for. The World Wildlife Fund reports:
Estimates suggest that more than 1 billion animals may have been killed directly or indirectly from the fires. This loss includes thousands of koalas and other iconic animals, such as kangaroos, wallabies, gliders, potoroos, cockatoos, and honeyeaters.
Many forests will take decades to recover and the crisis is potentially pushing some animals closer to the brink of extinction.
From our time here I can imagine this is true. You can’t avoid the dead kangaroos, birds when traveling around and that’s mostly just from the road and in people’s burned out yards. Can’t imagine deep on the forests. https://t.co/RpOQLltrmC
— Ginger Zee (@Ginger_Zee) January 8, 2020
Even the animals that survived, scampering away or hunkering down, may die from dehydration or starvation, Professor Dixon added. “It’s a biological Armageddon rarely seen,” he said.
Wildlife in Australia was already under threat before these fires, as humans have changed the landscape. Agribusiness is among the top contributors to deforestation, which decimates wildlife populations, scientists say.
There are massive efforts to save what animals they can. But one rescue group says for everyone one koala found alive, 100 are dead.
A family set up a rescue of koalas on Kangaroo Island and brought them to neighbors, who they say have a permit to care for native wildlife. While one koala died on the way, the families say they're "just trying to collect as many live ones as we can." https://t.co/ZTarjHl8NR pic.twitter.com/M8IaQ6fJ5H
— ABC News (@ABC) January 7, 2020
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