Many of my readers would be aware of the human tragedy surrounding the current bush fires in Victoria. In times like these it is easy to forget that the birds and animals suffer terribly too.

I’ve just received an email from National Parks and Wildlife asking people to donate money to help with the recovery programme of koalas burnt in the current bush fires.

If you are able to help out click here to donate money.

Here is a part of the relevant article on their website.

Impact of bushfires on koalas

When nature itself strikes koalas with bushfires, the survival of entire populations becomes a matter of minutes and hours. Bushfires kill some koalas directly because they are such exposed animals. On fire perimeters they can be injured, often by being burnt on their paws and noses as they try to climb smouldering trees.

The impact of a bushfire on a koala population depends on how much unburnt habitat with surviving koalas remains with recolonisation as the key to survival.

Fires restrict the movements of koalas in the burnt bush, and populations only remain genetically healthy if there is a small but constant exchange between populations. Results from earlier studies suggest that due to habitat fragmentation bushfires may well lead to the local extinction of many koala populations.