Bushfires bringing our national icon to extinction’s edge
In the immediate aftermath of the devastating 2019-2020 Black Summer bushfires, there was one very lucky Kurrajong koala, “Kurra” who was rescued by local Rural Fire Service volunteers.
Located in the middle of a tree stump on a burnt out Kurrajong property, Kurra was then rehabilitated alongside her new friend Marine, a drought refugee from Mudgee.
This cuddly pair were looked after by a volunteer from WIRES, an Australian wildlife rescue service for five months while their habitats recovered sufficiently to grow enough food for them to survive.
Released on 22 May 2020 back in her native bushland with a tracking device, Kurra is one of the few survivors of the 2019-20 bushfires, which killed or displaced an estimated 3 billion native animals including koalas, kangaroos and reptiles.
The recent release of the State of the Environment report is a grim reminder of how the Black Summer bushfires killed so many of our native animals. To the extent that another 202 animal and plant species have been identified as threatened with extinction, including koalas which in February this year were declared endangered across ACT, QLD, and NSW.
Kurra’s survival reaffirms the importance of organisations like WIRES - Wildlife Information Rescue and Education Service in supporting the recovery of native wildlife and their habitat.
Find out more about how we’re continuing to support the medium to long-term recovery of communities impacted by Black Summer bushfires with a range of initiatives.