Australian wildfires may have killed half a billion animals and plants

As apocalyptic wildfires continue to rage across Australia, the loss of life in the region is reaching staggering numbers. Ecologists at the University of Sydney now estimate that nearly half a billion animals and plants have been wiped out since the fires began several months ago.

The "mega blaze" has destroyed homes and sent thousands of people fleeing to the shoreline from New South Wales and Victoria. About 12.35 million acres of land have burned nationwide over the past few months. At least 17 people have been killed, The Associated Press reports.

Approximately 480 million mammals, birds and reptiles have been lost since the fires intensified in September, the university said in a statement, but the actual number is likely to be substantially higher. Devastating images and videos from the area show kangaroos trying to flee burning forests and charred bodies of koalas lying on the ground.

Koalas, which were already under threat due to significant habitat loss, have been hit particularly hard. Ecologists said nearly 8,000 koalas —about one-third of the population in their primary habitat — are believed to have died since the fires began.

"Up to 30% of their habitat has been destroyed," Australia's environment minister, Sussan Ley, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "We'll know more when the fires are calmed down and a proper assessment can be made."

While animal hospitals are taking in as many animals as possible to treat burns and nurse them back to health, services have overall struggled to keep up with the amount of care needed. And the animals that have survived will have trouble finding food and shelter among the ongoing flames.

"We're getting a lot of lessons out of this and it's just showing how unprepared we are," Science for Wildlife executive director Dr. Kellie Leigh told parliament during an urgent December hearing regarding the koala population, News Corp Australia reports. "There's no procedures or protocols in place — even wildlife carers don't have protocols for when they can go in after fire."

"The fires have burned so hot and so fast that there has been significant mortality of animals in the trees, but there is such a big area now that is still on fire and still burning that we will probably never find the bodies," Nature Conservation Council ecologist Mark Graham said during the hearing. 

Koalas "really have no capacity to move fast enough to get away" from the flames, he said.

Associate Professor Dieter Hochuli from the University of Sydney said it isn't just the well-known species, such as kangaroos and koalas, that are at risk. Insects that are key to services like pollination and nutrient cycling also suffered massive losses, and it is not clear how those populations and ecosystems will recover. Additionally, many rare plant species are feared to have disappeared completely.