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Fire threatens Aus species
18/12/2006 14:13 - (SA)
Sydney - Hundreds of thousands of native
Australian animals such as koalas and kangaroos have been
killed in bushfires that have burnt across southeast Australia
in the past two weeks, wildlife officials said on Monday.
The bushfires, which are still burning in three eastern
states, have been so big and intense that wildlife officials
fear some species may become extinct as the fires destroy large
swathes of animal habitats.
"The fires are so devastating and moving so quickly that
animals just don't have a chance to get out of the way," said Pat O'Brien, president of the Wildlife Protection Association.
"Because of the heat and the fireballs that are happening
the animals are just bursting into flames and just being killed
even before the fire gets to them because its so hot," O'Brien told Reuters on Monday.
Koalas and possums, which instinctively climb to the
treetops for safety, would have had no chance of escaping the
blazes, and kangaroos and bush birds would have been unable to
outrun the fast-burning fires, he said.
This meant a very real threat of seeing species unique to
the burnt-out areas, such as frogs and birds, becoming extinct,
O'Brien said.
"These fires will directly contribute to the extinction of a number of species and we won't know the full effects for
another ten years," he said.
"It takes 100 years for some animals to move back in an
area, if there's any available to move back in. In the case of gliders, which are rare and endangered anyway, they may never
come back ... they'll just go into extinction."
Wildlife officials also said a major factor in the high animal death toll was the predominance of eucalyptus trees in burning bushland. The oil in the trees explodes into flames.
"As soon as they get hot the eucalypt oil catches on fire
and then it just goes like a steam train," said Hugh Wirth,
president of Victoria's Royal Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA).
Fires in Victoria, Tasmania and New South Wales states have
burnt more than 2 million acres. The worst
fires are in Victoria where more than 4 000 firefighters are
battling four large blazes which have blackened 750 000
hectares.
Police say more than 30 homes have so far been razed.
Firefighters said on Monday cooler conditions had eased the
bushfire threat in the three eastern states but fires were
still burning out of control. In Western Australia, a fire
which has already destroyed 12 000 hectares is blazing
unchecked.
- Reuters
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