Our Aussie icons are losing their homes & their lives to catastrophic bushfires
URGENT APPEAL: Across the country, over 12 million hectares of Australian land has been burned to the ground. Over 1.25 billion animals have lost their lives so far, including thousands of koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, birds and other iconic wildlife. Your support is urgently needed to care for injured wildlife and restore their homes.
We have launched a global Australian Wildlife and Nature Recovery Fund to supply urgent care to wildlife organisations. Will you help before it's too late?
Australia’s Bushfire Emergency
Australia has been ravaged by the most devastating bushfire season the country has ever seen.
Over 12 million hectares of Australian land has been burned.
It’s estimated that as many as 8,400 koalas perished in fires on the mid-north coast of NSW and Kangaroo Island in South Australia has lost over 50% of their koala population. This is a devastating blow for an iconic species already in decline, and these bushfires have the potential to hasten koalas’ slide towards extinction in eastern Australia.
Koalas could be extinct in the wild in eastern Australia in as little as 30 years due mainly to ongoing excessive tree-clearing for agricultural and urban development and climate heating triggered bushfires that destroy koala habitat, that potentially accelerate the extinction timeline.
But all hope is not lost. Help is urgently needed for the national emergency fund to help raise $30 million to deliver:
• Wildlife care - including partnering with wildlife response organisations, communities and scientists nationally to swiftly implement effective large-scale disaster response and recovery programs nationwide. To fund this program of work WWF has already delivered an initial AUD$2 million for immediate wildlife rescue, care and recovery.
• Habitat restoration - including restoring native forests and damaged wildlife habitat, stopping deforestation, cultivating greater wildlife habitat corridor connections, rehabilitating critical endangered habitat areas and supporting best practice Indigenous and rural fire management.
• Future fire-proofing Australia - including working to develop and promote innovative new approaches and proven solutions to help mitigate global heating, climate change, better climate event preparedness, species adaptation and long-term wildlife and nature conservation efforts that help secure Australia's precious natural resources for people and nature.
Can you help save our precious koalas before they're gone forever?