3bn animals killed or harmed in Australian bushfire

According to World Wild Fund 2.46bn reptiles, 180m birds, 143m mammals, 51m frog were killed or displaced during Australia’s devastating bushfires of the past year. The findings meant it was one of the “worst wildlife disasters in modern history” said the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) which commissioned the report.

Mega blazes swept across every Australian state last summer, scorching bush and killing at least 33 people.

During the peak of the crisis in January, scientists had estimated that 1.25bn animals had been killed in New South Wales and Victoria alone. The new estimates take 11.46 million hectares an area comparable to England was scorched from September to February.

In February the Australian government identified 113 mammals which needed urgent help after the bushfires and lost 30 per cent of their habitat in temperate forests and grasslands of Australia’s south and east.

Koalas and wallabies, fish, frog species, and birds were among those needing most help according to experts.