Australia bushfire may have killed hundreds of rare koalas

SYDNEY: Hundreds of koalas are feared to have burned to death in an out-of-control bushfire on Australia’s east coast, wildlife authorities said.

A bushfire believed to have been sparked by a lightning strike on Saturday some 400km north of Sydney has ravaged an area of over 2,000ha, with authorities battling to bring it under control.

Wildlife rescuers in New South Wales state held grave fears for a “very rare” population of hundreds of koalas living in the fire zone.

“The special importance of those koalas is that they are very genetically diverse,” said Sue Ashton, president of the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital, yesterday.

Her fear was 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 the state of New South Wales, which has been battling severe drought.

Authorities say conditions are easing near Port Macquarie, where large air tankers are being used to battle the out-of-control blaze.

“The fire will continue to burn throughout the night, but there are significant resources in the area protecting properties,” New South Wales Rural Fire Service said in their latest update.

Ashton said wildlife volunteers would join firefighters in the area either today or tomorrow to assess the scale of loss and begin a rescue operation for the surviving koalas.

“What happens to a koala in a fire is that it climbs up to the top of the tree and curls up into a little ball. If the fire goes through quickly and just singes its fur, it will be fine and the fur will grow back,” she said.

But if the fire intensifies and continues to burn up the tree “it will perish”, she added.

“So, we won’t really know until we get in there and start to look.”