Australia fires: 113 animal species 'need emergency help'

Australia has identified 113 animal species which will need "urgent help" after their numbers and habitats were devastated by recent bushfires.

In a welcome finding, there appeared to be no extinctions, said the government.

But almost all species on the list had lost at least 30% of their habitat due to the mammoth blazes in the south and east over Australia's summer.

Koalas and wallabies, as well as bird, fish and frog species are among those needing the most help, said experts.

Researchers had previously estimated that more than 1 billion animals may have perished in the fires, which scorched large swathes of temperate forest and grassland.

Species worst-hit by the fires

13birds

20reptiles

5 inverterbrates

19mammals

22crayfish

17fish

Source: Wildlife and Threatened Species Bushfire Recovery Expert Panel

A provisional list, released on Tuesday, narrowed a field of hundreds of fire-affected species to those needing the most urgent conservation action. It was drawn up by the government's Wildlife and Threatened Species Bushfire Recovery Expert Panel.

The panel found some highly threatened species faced "imminent risk of extinction" because almost all of their habitat had been destroyed. These included the Pugh's frog, Blue Mountains water skink and the Kangaroo Island dunnart.

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To save koalas from fire, we need to start putting their genetic material on ice

DECEMBER 10, 2019

by Ryan R. Witt, Chad T. Beranek, John Clulow, John Rodger, Lachlan G. Howell and Robert Scanlon, The Conversation

Thousands of koalas may have died in fires burning through New South Wales but expert evidence to a state parliamentary inquiry on Monday said we are unlikely to ever know the real numbers.

Unprecedented fires have burned through millions of hectares of forest, including koala habitat and rainforests untouched by fire for thousands of years.

The devastation won't stop once the fires are out. Koala populations that survive the fires could be cut off from each other, lowering their genetic diversity and threatening their long-term survival.

To protect Australia's iconic koalas we need to start freezing their genetic material. With more investment in the fast-developing field of cryogenics, koala hospitals could start taking samples from their patients, creating a vital lifeline for the species as a whole.

Koala-threatening fires are getting worse

Fire seasons are starting earlier, lasting longer and becoming more intense, made worse by climate change.

This season, there is an above-average risk of serious fires across an extensive range of koala habitat on Australia's east coast.

Experts at the NSW inquiry estimated about 2,000 koalas may have died in fires already this year, and the destruction of habitat means further population declines are inevitable. With areas not usually threatened by fires now at risk, we need new plans for future conservation.

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