Figures that were revealed by experts in Australia suggest that over 61,000 koalas were killed and injured by the black summer bushfires.
This just reveals how devastating the bushfires were.
Researchers have been surveying the hardest-hit areas by the fires.
It was also revealed that around 3 billion animals were killed, affected, or injured during the bushfires in Australia.
Amongst those numbers, around 61,000 koalas were affected, killed, or injured.
The report that we are talking about was compiled by 10 researchers and scientists, which was commissioned by environmental group WWF-Australia.
The data that we are talking about suggests that around 2.46 billion animals that got affected by the bushfires were reptiles.
143 million other native mammals, 181 million birds, and 51 million frogs got killed during the massive fires.
In the document, Dermot O’Gorman, chief executive of WWF-Australia, said the Black Summer bushfires is just one of the worst wildlife disasters that have been recorded in modern times.
They released a statement about the bushfires, where they said:
While the overall estimate that nearly 3 billion animals were in the path of the fires has not changed, scientists have drilled down to reveal the impact on some individual animal species and groupings of species. It’s estimated that nearly 40 million possums and gliders; more than 36 million antechinuses, dunnarts, and other insectivorous marsupials; 5.5 million bettongs, bandicoots, quokkas, and potoroos; 5 million kangaroos and wallabies; 1.1 million wombats; and 114,000 echidnas were impacted. The worst losses were on Kangaroo Island, with more than 40,000 koalas impacted. Next was Victoria with fires scorching forests occupied by 11,000 koalas. But there were also many precious koala populations directly in the path of the fires in NSW, with nearly 8,000 koalas impacted. That is a devastating number for a species that was already sliding towards extinction in Eastern Australia. We cannot afford to lose koalas on our watch.
The wildlife campaigners are hoping that they will be capable of repopulating the areas that got destroyed or affected the most.
A parliamentary inquiry that was carried out in Australia’s New South Wales found out that koalas could go extinct by the year 2050 if nothing is done to save them.
Scary data!
What are your thoughts about the bushfires and the numbers that are listed in the data that was released? Let us know what you think about them by leaving a comment in the comments section below!