More than 1 billion animals dead or dying from bushfires, report finds

Experts warn that these staggering figures are only “conservative” estimates.

More than one billion animals are dead or dying from the bushfires in eastern Australia, according to a report released this morning.

At least six million hectares with at least 250 different threatened species of mammals, birds and reptiles has gone up in smoke, literally, according to ecologists.

And that’s the best case scenario.

Experts warn that these are “conservative” estimates.

A Sydney University Professor, Chris Dickman, made international headlines earlier this month after he estimated that half a billion animals would be lost this fire season.

Now, only a few weeks later, that staggering figure has more than doubled.

Koalas are among those most affected. Picture: Nathan Edwards/Getty Images

Many animals and plants have been incinerated or suffocated by smoke and ash. Others may have escaped the blaze only to die of exhaustion or starvation, or be picked off by predators.

The team of researchers found that 99 per cent of the fire-affected areas burned are home to at least one nationally listed threatened species.

Harrowing scenes of kangaroos fleeing walls of fire, charred bodies of koalas and cockatoos falling dead out of trees have horrified the world as it tries to take in the scale of the unfolding disaster.

The populations of the Kangaroo Island dunnart and the Kangaroo Island glossy black cockatoo have been particularly devastated. These species’ entire populations numbered only in the hundreds. That was before bushfires burned down half their habitat.

“Approximately 70 nationally threatened species have had at least 50 per cent of their range burnt, while nearly 160 threatened species have had more than 20 per cent of their range burnt,” the report said.

Currumbin Wildlife Hospital Koala. Picture: Nigel Hallett/Supplied

A koala rescued from the Kangaroo Island fires. Picture: Dana Mitchell/Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park via AP

Koalas have been among the hardest hit of Australia’s native animals because they are slow moving and only eat leaves from the eucalyptus tree, which are filled with oil, making them highly flammable.

Up to 8000 — a third of the entire koala population of the NSW mid-north coast — are believed to have been killed in less than four months.

A document obtained by the Sydney Morning Herald stated one-fifth of forests that were home to koalas had been destroyed.