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Makeshift koala hospital scrambles to save dozens injured in bushfires
KANGAROO ISLAND, Australia, Jan 14, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Dozens of injured
koalas arrive at the Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park’s makeshift animal
hospital each day in cat carriers, washing baskets or clinging to wildlife
carers.
Injured in bushfires that have ravaged the wildlife haven off the coast of
South Australia state, there are so many marsupials currently requiring
urgent treatment that carers don’t have time to give them names — they are
simply referred to by a number.
Among them is Koala Number 64, who was brought in with burns to all four of
his paws.
Stretched out on a surgical table in a bustling tent, he has been sedated
so the wounds can be examined and treated.
“It’s healing nicely,” says veterinarian Peter Hutchison, explaining the
koala had already benefitted from a few days’ of treatment.
Not all rescued koalas have been so lucky. Many are found so badly injured
that they need to be euthanised.
Steven Selwood, South Australia Veterinary Emergency Management team leader
at the hospital, says around 46,000 koalas were thought to be on the island
before this year’s bushfires.
It is estimated as few as 9,000 remain, Selwood says, describing the figure
as “pretty devastating”.
“The fires here were particularly ferocious and fast-moving so we’re seeing
a lot less injured wildlife than in other fires,” he tells AFP.
“A lot of the wildlife was incinerated.”
Australian Environment Minister Sussan Ley said the country’s koala
population had taken an “extraordinary hit” as a result of bushfires that
have raged for months, suggesting they could be listed as “endangered” for
the first time.
Kangaroo Island is the only place in Australia where the population is
entirely free of chlamydia — a sexually transmitted infection also found in
humans that is fatal to koalas.
That has made them a key “insurance population” for the future of the
species — and even more crucial now that large numbers have died in
bushfires on the Australian mainland.
Almost half of Kangaroo Island has been razed by fire and an estimated 80
percent of koala habitat wiped out.
This widespread destruction has left rescuers with a tricky proposition —
what to do with the animals once they have recovered.
For now, that issue is on the back burner as teams of vets work overtime to
save as many as possible.
“He’s going to need another week (to recover) and will need to be kept
caged after that,” Hutchinson tells AFP as he wraps a pink bandage around
Number 64’s paw.
“Because there’s no habitat for him to go back to at this time.”
BSS/AFP/IJ/1822 hrs