Hundreds of koalas are feared to have burned to death in an out-of-control bushfire on Australia’s east coast, wildlife authorities said yesterday.
A bushfire believed to have been sparked by a lightning strike on Saturday about 400km north of Sydney has ravaged an area of more than 2,000 hectares, with authorities battling to bring it under control.
Wildlife rescuers in northern New South Wales hold grave fears for a “very rare” population of hundreds of koalas living in the fire zone.
Photo: AP
“The special importance of those koalas is that they are very genetically diverse,” Port Macquarie Koala Hospital president Sue Ashton said.
Her fears are that “hundreds” in the known koala breeding area “have perished in the fire.”
“It’s a national tragedy, because this koala population is so unique,” she added.
Land clearing and development over time has meant a loss of habitat for the tree-dwelling koalas, leading to less connectivity between populations, increased inbreeding and reduced genetic diversity of the marsupial.
More than 70 fires continue to burn across New South Wales, which is battling severe drought.
Authorities say that conditions are easing near Port Macquarie, where large air tankers are being used to battle the blaze.
“The fire will continue to burn throughout the night. However, there are significant resources in the area protecting properties,” the New South Wales Rural Fire Service said in its latest update.
Wildlife volunteers would join firefighters in the area either tomorrow or on Friday to assess the scale of loss and begin a rescue operation for the surviving koalas, Ashton said.
“What happens to a koala in a fire is that they climb up to the top of the tree and they curl up into a little ball. If the fire goes through quickly and just singes their fur, they are fine, the fur will grow back,” she said.
However, if the fire intensifies and continues to burn up the tree “they’ll perish,” Ashton added.
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