https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/a ... 8HsRwkj930Around 480 million animals are feared to have died in the bushfires sweeping Australia, including nearly a third of the koalas in New South Wales's main habitat.
Ecologists at the University of Sydney estimate around 480 million mammals, birds and reptiles have been killed, directly or indirectly, by the devastating blazes since they began in September, The Times reported.
This includes almost 8,000 koalas, which are believed to have burnt to death on the state’s mid-north coast.
The region, which lies around 240 miles north of Sydney, is home to the largest number of Australia’s koalas, with a population of up to 28,000.
Federal environment minister Sussan Ley told ABC "up to 30 per cent of the population in that region" may have been killed, because around 30 per cent of their habitat has been destroyed.
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Nine people have died and hundreds of homes have been razed to the ground during the unprecedented bushfire season.
About four million hectares have been burnt in New South Wales alone.
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Dedicated workers at the The Port Macquarie Koala Hospital reportedly treated 72 badly burnt animals on Christmas Day.
They were brought in after bushfires destroyed up to three quarters of their habitat, according to the clinical director Cheyne Flanagan.
Heartbreaking and shocking
