Voracious fires in Australia have devastated almost 50,000 square kilometers of forest and caused the death of half the world’s population of koalas.
Approximately half of the population of healthy Koalas which could have secured the future of the species, died after a fire destroyed a sanctuary.
The fatal incident occurred in the Kangaroo Island, rich in wildlife and where it is estimated 50,000 koalas lived.
Sam Mitchell of the Kangaroo Island Nature Park said in a statement:
More than 50% (of the population of koalas) has disappeared. The wounds are extreme. Others have run out of habitat to go, so they will starve in the coming weeks. ”
Many species of animals have suffered from the advance of the wildfires. It is estimated that 500 million animals have perished so far from the fires.
Conditions have worsened in recent days. Kangaroo Island lost approximately 170,000 hectares, a third of its entire territory.
Fake Rain News
In recent days, many media reported that a great rain extinguished a good part of the fires in Australia. A video was broadcast showing a group of firefighters celebrating in the rain. However, it is a video recorded in November 2019.
Many users shared the news on networks and various websites propagated the false information, indicating that the aforementioned video had been filmed on January 4, 2020.
There have been rains but quite mild, and have not stopped the progress of the flames as indicated by firefighters who have been working for several weeks.
US firefighters are heading to Australia
A group of 20 veteran firefighters from California (USA) will travel to Australia on January 6 to support firefighting efforts.
Carrie Bilbao, spokesman for the National Interagency Fire Brigade Center in Boise, Idaho, said the fire brigade delegation is moving to Australia and at the same time they are collecting the necessary resources for their trip.
The crew of American firefighters that leave this Monday will replace another group sent to Australia at the end of December.
The delegation includes firefighters with experience in attacking fires directly before they become “big hell” and members of helicopter crews.
It has also been reported that famous artists have come to Australia to help, mainly to raise funds for donations to firefighters. Among the artists are: Nicole Kidman and Pink, who have contributed money to support the fight against fires.
Source: The guardian / EpochTimes