A new report says that 5,000 koalas have been killed by the recent Australian bushfires.
The Australian bushfires have been devastating for wildlife. The Australian bushfires began all the way back in June 2019 and have been only put out very recently: the Australian bushfires were confirmed to have been all put out on the 3rd of March 2020, resulting in the fires burning for around nine months this bushfire season.
The fires have been so devastating in Australia over the last few months that it is thought that the fires have been responsible for killing at least one billion wild animals.
Probably the most visible animal that has been hurt by the fires is koalas. There have been many reports about how devastating the fires have been for koalas and there has also been a lot of footage which has came out of Australia showing how these fires have harmed these cute marsupials, while other footage has shown koalas going to people for help.
It's starting to become more clear how the fires have affected Australia's wildlife recently. A new report by the the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) has recently reported that around 5,000 koalas have been killed because of the recent Australia fires. That's 12% of the koala population. Therefore, around one-in-ten koalas have been killed recently because of the fires.
Koalas have been affected in a region of Australia called New South Wales, where 5,000 koalas are thought to have died because of the fires. The report also takes into consideration how this event is likely going to impact koalas in the future, it is thought that it will have a negative affect on koalas in the future as the IFAW says that many of the koala populations is unlikely to recover in the future. Therefore, it's possible that we could be seeing a decline in the koala population in the future.
Finally, the report also focuses on how much koalas have declined over the past three generations. It says that the koala population has declined by a massive 66% over the last three generations.
Before the fires, koalas were already declining, and it was projected that they would be extinct in New South Wales by 2050. The main threats to koalas today are things like deforestation, fires and climate change. Therefore, for koalas to survive in the future, we must tackle these issues.
Comments