Australia: Owner distraught as fire burns kangaroo sanctuary

Wildfires ravaging Australia have taken a grisly toll on the country's wildlife with hundreds of millions of wild animals believed to have been killed in the blazes, along with thousands of livestock.

Carcasses of kangaroos were littering the sides of roadways along with other animals.

Rae Harvey of Wild2Free lost her kangaroo sanctuary which she had built over 16 years.

When the fires hit the sanctuary on New Year's eve, Rae was evacuated by boat with help from a volunteer firefighter.

Dozens of kangaroos are feared dead, and since the fires about 22 kangaroos have returned to the sanctuary, with some having serious burns, AuBC reported.

Surveying the damage, an emotional Harvey said she thought all the animals were going to die as the fires raged.

"There was so much smoke and fire and I didn't think there was going to be any alive," she said through tears.

"They have all got these amazing personalities and they're all individual and people don't understand what they're really like and how much they add to the environment."

She likened the loss of the "emotional and sensitive" animals to losing her own family.

The lack of medical supplies has also been impacting the work that can be done to help the remaining animals.

Solicitor Matthew Barlow learned from a friend's Facebook page of efforts being made to get medical supplies to the area and decided to help.

"This morning I left home at about 5:30, went to the airport and picked up some medical supplies for the kangaroos that was specially flown in from Adelaide, and that's what I have delivered here along with some other medical supplies I picked up along the way," he told AuBC.

The fires, fueled by drought and the country's hottest and driest year on record, have been raging since September, months earlier than is typical for Australia's annual wildfire season.