More than 2,000 koalas killed in Australia bushfires

The massive bushfires that have been raging in eastern Australia since November have killed more than 2,000 koalas, a species classified as vulnerable, an ecologist said on Monday. Australian ecologist Dailan Pugh told Efe news that the recent fires have claimed the lives of around 25 percent of the approximately 8,400 koalas in the region. Pugh’s data, calculated through the potential distribution of animals and the area affected by the fires, is double the estimation of other foundations for the protection of koalas, animals that also face threats from the country’s ongoing drought, diseases, and logging. Pugh, who also heads the non-profit North East Forest Alliance, estimated that 24 percent of the koala habitat was lost along the northern coast of the New South Wales (NSW) state and recommended a moratorium on logging in the forests. The severity of wildfires fears the disappearance of koalas - whose population across the country is around 80,000 specimens - if such catastrophes continue and the remaining eucalyptus forests were not protected remaining on the north coast of NSW. (IANS)

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