Australia bushfires: Raging blazes ‘kill 2,000 koalas’ and destroy massive swathe of habitat

A koala named Paul from Lake Innes Nature Reserve being treated for burns at the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital
Getty Images
Ted Hennessey9 December 2019

More than 2,000 koalas were today estimated to have been wiped out in devastating bushfires as forecasters warned that lightning storms could spark “lethal” blazes.

New South Wales parliament’s upper house held an urgent meeting into the state’s koala population in the wake of “unprecedented” bushfires that have destroyed millions of hectares of forest.

Mark Graham, an ecologist with the Nature Conservation Council, told lawmakers: “The fires have burned so hot and so fast that there has been significant mortality of animals in the trees, but there is such a big area now that is still on fire and still burning that we will probably never find the bodies.

“We’ve lost such a massive swathe of known koala habitat that I think we can say without any doubt there will be ongoing declines in koala populations from this point forward.”

A fire blazes across bush in Newnes Plateau, New South Wales
GENA DRAY via REUTERS

Science for Wildlife executive director Dr Kellie Leigh told the hearing about the lack of resources in place to save koalas in the Blue Mountains, a world heritage site where fires have hit two-thirds of the population.

She said: “We’re getting a lot of lessons out of this and it’s just showing how unprepared we are.”

Smoke of fire rise next to firefighting vehicles as bushfires burn in Newnes Plateau, New South Wales
GENA DRAY via REUTERS

North East Forest Alliance president and ecologist Dailan Pugh was expected to tell the inquiry that more than 2,000 koalas may have died in the fires, with up to one third of koala habitat on the state’s north coast lost.

As firefighters today fought scores of blazes the length of the NSW, forecasters warned conditions were likely to worsen tomorrow with temperatures set to top 40C. The Bureau of Meteorology warned of fast winds and a high risk of lightning strikes.

Thick smoke is also likely to return to the Sydney basin, as fires near Warragamba Dam and Hawkesbury intensify.

Firefighters were today burning grassland in a bid to starve the anticipated new front of bushfires of fuel.

State Premier Gladys Berejiklian warned: “Tomorrow is a very dangerous day for NSW... that combination, as we know, has been lethal in the last few months so we are anticipating a big effort on the ground tomorrow.”

Wildfires have killed at least four people, destroyed over 680 homes and burned more than one million hectares of bushland in New South Wales since the start of last month.

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