An enclave of koalas, Australia's cuddly but endangered national icon, faced a fiery fate as bushfires raged out of control, conservationists said yesterday.
Rescuers feared blazes sweeping across central New South Wales state had already killed hundreds of the creatures, which environmental groups have warned could die out within a decade.
"There's certainly been a lot of koalas and other wildlife killed, because from what I can gather from the Rural Fire Service reports, it's quite a substantial area of country that's been burnt out," team spokesman Mark Williams, from Sydney's Taronga Zoo, told the Australian Associated Press.
Early yesterday a veterinarian, a veterinary nurse and a koala handler set up base in a town close to the Pilliga Nature Reserve, whose large koala population is one of Australia's most important and most genetically diverse.
Although the specialists had yet to find any injured koalas, Williams believed the intense fire -- whose 30km front had already destroyed 100,000 hectares of scrub -- had likely claimed many animals' lives.
"Given that there are believed to be thousands of koalas in the Pilliga, you'd have to guess that dozens, if not hundreds of animals could have perished," he said.
The wildlife rescue team faced an uphill battle, with recent efforts failing to save many koalas from large bushfires that ravaged the landscape several years ago, Williams said.
"If they're caught in the path of the fire then sadly, it's the end usually," he said.
"Whatever we get, whether it be koalas, wallabies or anything, we'll do our best to help," he said.
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