Australian koalas worst hit by raging bushfires, only 9k remain out of 46k

Australia has been gripped by ravaging bushfire since September last year and the damage has been so dreadful that it is being dubbed as the worst in recorded history. Properties, people and wildlife are the worst sufferers in the ongoing bushfire down under. In a recent piece of news coming in from Australia, an estimated 37,000 koalas have been killed in the wildfires so far. According to Steven Selwood of South Australia Veterinary Emergency Management, there are only 9,000 koalas that remain out of the 46,000 that were thought to be on the island before this year's bushfire. 

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80 per cent of koala habitat wiped out

Australian Environment Minister Sussan Ley had earlier suggested that koalas be listed as endangered species after their population took an eye-opening hit by the ongoing bushfires in the country. Some experts estimate that 80 per cent of koala habitat on Kangaroo Island has been wiped out after the island was ravaged by fire. Koalas were already listed as vulnerable before the fires started and now Sussan Ley's suggestion to list them as endangered is being welcomed by conservationists and environmentalists. 

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Each day dozens of koalas come for treatment at Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park's makeshift hospital. Koalas arrive there in cat baskets or clinging to volunteers and there are so many of them arriving every day requiring urgent treatment that carers don't have time to name each one of them. One such koala arrived at the hospital who was referred to as Number 64. The koala arrived there with burns to all four of his paws. The koala was sedated so it could be treated by the doctors for the burns. 

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Animal protection groups from across the globe are involved in the rescue and recovery process of wildlife in Australia. Animal welfare groups like Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service (WIRES) and Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) are helping towards the process and accepting donations on their official websites. The bushfire this season is seemingly unprecedented as an estimated 480 million animals and 1,000 homes have been affected by the inferno. 

Read: Australia Could Declare Koalas As Extinct Species Amid Bushfire Crisis