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Experts are claiming that this could be the end for koalas, now that 80% of their natural habitat has been destroyed by bushfires, and thousands have lost their lives.
As well-beloved as koala bears are, it may be too late to save them after what has been happening to their natural habitat. Thousands have now lost their lives, and their habitat is slowly being lost thanks to fires and deforestation.
The chairman of the Australian Koala Foundation, Deborah Tabart OAM, says these recent developments have left koalas ‘functionally extinct’.
The term ‘functionally extinct’ is in reference to a species whose population has been devastated to a point where they can no longer contribute or sustain their role in an ecosystem.
Ms. Tabart told Daily Mail Australia that, “If we combine all of the estimated deaths of koalas in the bushfires, there could be 1000 koalas that have been killed in the last two months.”
The bad news is that even if more koalas survive the bushfires than expected, their population will continue to be at dire risk of extinction.
“Because of deforestation and now the bushfires, there is so little habitat left and trees with eucalyptus take months to grow back,” said Ms. Tabart.
So far, more than $1 million dollars has been raised by the Koala Hospital to help injured animals that have been rescued. The campaign to raise money was launched by Port Macquarie Koala Hospital will also be used to buy automatic drinking stations for the animals that live in those devastated areas.
The initial goal was $25,000, but it has been far exceeded, with more than 25,000 donations totaling $1.146 million.
Donations drastically increased after footage of a woman, Toni Doherty, was released that showed her running into a bushfire to save a koala that had been injured.
Mrs. Doherty, who rescued the koala who has been named Ellenborough Lewis, said, “It was vulnerable. All I could think to do was to try and rescue him. We just jumped out and I knew I needed to put something around him as I ran to the tree, so I just took off my shirt and covered him with it, and tried to get him out of the fire.”
Residents local to the area are being urged to seek immediate emergency care for any injured animal they might encounter.
Update: Sadly, the hospital that was taking care of Ellenborough Lewis has announced that they had to make the unfortunate decision to put the koala to sleep. They explained their decision on Facebook:
“Today we made the decision to put Ellenborough Lewis to sleep. We placed him under general anesthesia this morning to assess his burn injuries and change the bandages.”
They then explained that burn injuries can get worse before they get better, and that in Ellenborough Lewis’s case, they would not have gotten better.
“The Koala Hospital’s number one goal is animal welfare,” they further explained. “So it was on those grounds that this decision was made. We thank you for your ongoing support.”
