SYDNEY, Jan 20, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Australia’s bushfires have burned more
than half the known habitat of 100 threatened plants and animals, including
32 critically endangered species, the government said Monday.
Wildlife experts worry that more than a billion animals have perished in
the unprecedented wave of bushfires that have ravaged eastern and southern
Australia for months.
Twenty-eight people died in the blazes, which have swept through an area
larger than Portugal.
Officials say it will take weeks to assess the exact toll as many fire
grounds remain too dangerous to inspect.
But the government’s Department of the Environment and Energy on Monday
issued a preliminary list of threatened species of plants, animals and
insects which have seen more than 10 percent of their known habitat affected.
More than 80 percent of the known or likely habitats of 49 species has
fallen within fire zones, while another 65 species have seen 50-80 percent of
their distribution areas affected.
Sally Box, the department’s Threatened Species Commissioner, said the
survey results were just a first step in understanding the potential impact
of the bushfires on Australia’s wildlife.
“Some species are more vulnerable to fire than others and some areas were
more severely burnt than others, so further analysis will be needed before we
can fully assess the impact of the fires on the ground,” she said.
The threatened species in the path of the fires included 272 plant, 16
mammal, 14 frog, nine bird, seven reptile, four insect, four fish and one
spider species, the department said.
Of the 32 critically endangered species impacted by the fires, most were
plants though they also included frogs, turtles and three types of bird.
BSS/AFP/MSY/0926 hrs