Devastation Of The Australia Fires May Have Claimed Millions of Wildlife

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I owe a thanks to one of my Australia friends, Goodie for sending me this in an email. As many of you know Australia is being hit with it's worse "wildfires" in known history. The fires are suspected of being started by arsonists. The death toll of humans is near 200 people, thousands of homes completely destroyed, some people were even killed in their cars as they tried to get away from the fires, but the fires were faster and overtook many in their cars burning them to death. And then there are the animals. Whenever I hear about ANY natural disaster be it floods, fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes..my first thought is What happens to all the animals? Here's a link to the article my friend sent me, plus a video of a fireman trying to help a koala bear that had burnt paws {Warning: This is NOT a referral link but a link to the article} http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/750113/fires-may-have-killed-a-million-animals From the article it's thought that the wildlife that has perished in these fires in Australia could possibly run in the millions...not just domestic animals, but all types of wildlife....koalas, kangaroos, owls, lizards, possums...." Here's a brief excerpt from the article itself [i]Ms Chappell is among those working to rescue the animals and says the extent of the devastation may never be known. "It [the animal death toll] will be in the hundreds of thousands, possibly millions," Ms Chappell said. "We are not just talking the animals we are familiar with, there are gliders and all sorts of possums, antechinus [a mouse-like marsupial], bandicoots, birds — there is so much wildlife. Koalas are also especially vulnerable to wildfires because they move slowly on the ground. (Read one firefighter's amazing koala rescue story here). The wildfires cut through parks and forests and sent countless wombats and other native species fleeing. One resident reported seeing kangaroos bouncing down the road with flames at their backs. "It is devastating, the actual size of the destruction is devastating to a number of wildlife populations," Ms Chappell said. It is feared endangered populations of gliders, owls and lizards may be among the dead. For those that have survived, the recovery process will be long and slow. "They have lost their homes too and they are not going to be rebuilt in a year or two years, it is a much longer-term picture," Ms Chappell said. "You can't reconstruct a forest." The fires also destroyed four wildlife shelters including Stella Reid's Wildhaven shelter at Kinglake. Ms Chappell said Ms Reid escaped with her life, but the animals were not so lucky. "It has been a real blow for everybody I think. That is what has really brought it home for everybody, hearing that Stella Reid's place was totalled and all her animals ... they weren't able to get any animals out at all." [/i] My hopes and prayers are still with those from Australia and truly hope these fires end soon. Whenever you hear of natural disasters, do you too think...What about the poor animals and the natural wildlife and forests??