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"The bushfires are so intense that in the areas the flames have passed through, baby koalas and other wildlife have been burned to ashes. The hospital is treating at least 12 koalas, five of whom are seriously injured," said Sue Ashton, director of the Koala Hospital in Port Macquarie.
The rescued koalas will receive medical checkups within three days, but those with burns may need up to six months to fully recover. Despite the tireless efforts of staff and volunteers in recent days, Ms. Ashton remains concerned that the wildfires may have killed 350 koalas in the area.
Over the past few days, 150 volunteers from the Koala Hospital in Port Macquarie, New South Wales, have been tirelessly searching the Lake Innes Nature Reserve to rescue a rare and genetically diverse koala population of up to 600 animals. Two-thirds of the area has been affected by wildfires.
Meanwhile, Queensland's Currumbin Wildlife Hospital is also busy receiving around 54 new animal "patients" each day, including many koalas, who are direct victims of the devastating wildfires raging across southeastern Queensland. Veterinarian Michael Pyne of the hospital is concerned that the fires are not only affecting the koala population but are also severely shrinking their habitat and food sources.
Australia is entering bushfire season, but historically, the fires have never been as devastating as they have been in recent days. The bushfire disaster is destroying approximately 1 million hectares of land and forest across Australia, killing 3 people, injuring dozens more, destroying around 300 homes, and causing immeasurable consequences for the natural environment, biodiversity, and cultural landscape of Australia.
The areas affected by the fires are located in regions with lower-than-average rainfall compared to the same period in previous years. Meanwhile, temperatures in these areas are also higher than the average for the same time. These factors have caused large areas of land and vegetation to become dry and barren, ready to burst into flames at any moment, even with hot, dry winds or lightning.
The extreme weather conditions have caused the area of land and forests burned in Australia in recent days to be 2.5 times larger than the devastating bushfires of "Black Friday" in 2009 in Victoria. The number of homes destroyed by bushfires in Queensland in the past 12 months is also believed to be greater than all past losses combined.
While everyone is caught up in the devastating wildfires, Australia has yet to find a long-term solution to prevent similar incidents from happening again.
