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 Bushfires And Wildlife Including Aussie Koalas Injured
In Recent Victorian Bushfires
By Leonie Gale, Chief
Executive Officer, Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife
The announcement just last week that heavy rainfall had put an end
at last to the bushfires that had been raging through the State of
Victoria, Australia for over a month was welcome news to thousands
of firefighters, including many from other states of Australia and
from those who had traveled from other countries such as New Zealand
and the USA to join this massive disaster relief effort.
Much work has commenced to rebuild the townships and lives of so
many Australian people affected by what has been arguably claimed as
Australia’s greatest natural disaster to date.
 The pictures
of the devastating fires and the human tragedies have been touching
people around the world. While the losses to people have been the
greatest concern, Australian wildlife is in great need of help too.
More than 300,000 hectares of forest have been burnt.
Hundreds of koalas may have been killed in the fires, and thousands
more are injured, often burning their paws and noses as they try to
climb smoldering trees.
The number of Australian wildlife
killed in the firestorms will be in the 100,000s, and entire
populations may have been wiped out.
 Volunteer wildlife
carers work around the clock to rescue and nurse burnt koalas,
gliders and other wildlife back to health.
Most koalas,
wallabies, kangaroos and other animals come into care with burns,
smoke inhalation and serious dehydration. Treatment includes burn
dressings (much the same manner as humans are treated), saline drips
for dehydration and medications including painkillers and
antibiotics.
Depending on the injuries koalas can take two
to 12 months to recover and fully rehabilitate to the point where
they can return to the wild either close to where they were found or
to a similar unburnt area. The forests will recover and renew
quickly but it will take decades before they have the capacity to
support large populations of wildlife again. Caring for a koala
costs about A$50 a day, and the volunteer wildlife carers fund most
of this out of their own pockets.
Funds have been necessary
for vital medical supplies, housing or food for the animals in need.
Typical costs (in Australian dollars -with A1$ = US$0.65) of these
needs include the following.
Animal bandages that do not
stick to the fur
$6 each
Small transport cages (possums, birds, etc.)
$10-20
Large transport cages
$100
Enclosures for long-term rehabilitation
From $200
One litre saline solution for rehydration drips
$4.10
Single-use needle
$0.80
Single-use syringe
$0.30
Electric and portable heat pads for animals in shock
and for baby kangaroos
$80
For decades the Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife
has funded research into the impact of bushfires on koalas,
collecting data and knowledge that now assists with the immediate
management of the current disaster.
Koalas are in decline
across much of their mainland range and are already on the
threatened species list in the state of New South Wales (which lies
to the north of the State of Victoria). Their coastal habitat
shrinks and becomes fragmented, while human development grows.
 Land clearing and housing development affect both the size of
habitat and the availability of appropriate food tree species.
Although there are many species of Eucalypt trees in Australia, only
a few are suitable food sources for koalas. Popular food trees,
though they vary throughout the species’ range, include River Red
gum, Yellow Box, Tallowwood, Small-leafed peppermint and Drooping
Red gum.
Koalas come to ground to move between trees, and
many are killed by dogs. Roads often dissect koala habitat, and
numerous koala injuries and deaths are caused by cars.
In a
fragmented habitat, bushfires are particularly devastating, and the
loss of some animals can mean the end of an entire population.
Decades of research however have shown that we can rehabilitate and
release bushfire affected animals with great success.
When
nature itself strikes koalas with bushfires, the survival of entire
populations becomes a matter of minutes and hours. Bushfires kill
some koalas directly because they are such exposed animals. On fire
perimeters they can be injured, often by being burnt on their paws
and noses as they try to climb smoldering trees.
 The impact
of a bushfire on a koala population depends on how much unburnt
habitat with surviving koalas remains with recolonisation as the key
to survival.
Fires restrict the movements of koalas in the
burnt bush, and populations only remain genetically healthy if there
is a small but constant exchange between populations. Results from
earlier studies suggest that due to habitat fragmentation bushfires
may well lead to the local extinction of many NSW koala populations.
Funded by the Foundation, a team of NSW government scientists
have dedicated years of research to the impact of bushfires on a New
South Wales coastal koala population. The results of their work have
been used in the management planning for koalas not only in this
area (Port Stephens which is located to the north of the City of
Sydney) but also on a state and national level.
The project
started after the devastating bushfires in 1994, which destroyed
half of the prime koala habitat in Port Stephens. Along with the
dedicated efforts of volunteers to rescue injured koalas from burnt
bush and take them into care, the New South Wales National Parks and
Wildlife Service (the state government agency responsible of the
management of national parks) set up a study to determine the
survival of koalas in burnt bush.
The release of
rehabilitated koalas into the bush raised questions to whether their
survival in the wild would be as successful as their rehabilitation.
Radio transmitters helped to monitor the koalas’ movements after
release and to collect information such as breeding success of
females, home range size, food tree species, health status and the
major threats to the individuals’ survival. The study compared
breeding success, presence of disease, changes in weight, home range
and movement patterns, and the fate of released koalas with those
that were not burnt.
Many of the rehabilitated koalas did
survive in the regenerating forest but like those that had survived
unharmed in the bush, they are threatened by dog attacks as they
move through the bush at ground level to find new, unburnt habitat.
The Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife has supported
both the scientists' work as well as the wildlife care volunteers
from various wildlife rescue agencies.
We must apply our
knowledge now to help the volunteers help the animals that were
injured in the recent bushfires. We know that with dedicated care
rehabilitation is possible.
So far over A$26,000 has been
raised by the Foundation to help support the volunteers on the
ground and to provide first aid relief to Australia’s truly unique
fauna.
Further information:
www.fnpw.org.au
The
Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife is one of many Community
Service projects which are currently supported by Rotary E-Club One
of District 5450.
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