Nearly 3 billion animals were killed in the devastating summer bushfires of Australia this year, said a report by WWF-Australia.

The figures that were revealed by WWF-Australia are nearly 3 times the estimate that was made by Chris Dickman, an Australian mammal expert that is a Professor by profession, earlier this year.

11.46 million hectares of fire impact area were examined by professionals, and it found out that nearly 3 billion native animals would have been living in the forests and woodlands that were destroyed.

The numbers include 143 million mammals, 2.46 billion reptiles, 180 million birds, and 51 million frogs.

WWF-Australia chief executive Dermot O’Gorman said:

It’s hard to think of another event anywhere in the world in living memory that has killed or displaced that many animals. This ranks as one of the worst wildlife disasters in modern history.

In January this year, Professor Dickman said that more than 1 billion animals perished in the summer bushfires.

However, those numbers were only an estimate for NSW and Victoria.

WWF-Australia said that the report was restricted by limited data on animal densities, fire impacts, and the ability of different species to survive and recover.

2020 has been a devastating year so far, arguably, one of the worst in human history.