Since last June wildfires have ravaged Australia, killing at least 28 people and upwards of a half-billion animals. Several thousand homes have been destroyed.
Caused largely by lightning strikes in drought-affected areas and fueled by unseasonably high temperatures and winds, the fires show no signs of abating. Legions of firefighters from several continents find themselves battling an enemy with seemingly endless reserves while protesters take to the streets to demand further action on climate change.
The massive conflagration has also rallied first-responders, four-leggeds and ordinary folk together to save lives:
With the help of local firefighters, a woman in Cuddle Creek took a half-dozen koalas into her home. In Mallacoota, a young man scouring the charred landscape for wildlife survivors has saved seven koalas so far. Near South New Wales, a group of teenagers piled a cluster of koalas into their car. One woman valiantly dashed into a brushfire and scooped up a koala who’d become disoriented by surrounding flames. The bear was reportedly dubbed “Ellenborough Lewis,” after the woman’s grandchild. Unfortunately, her injuries were too extensive and she did not survive.
Stirred by the plight of the smallest forest animals without a voice, Demi (who operates under the pseudonym, CarbonChic) put her quilting skills to work by creating hundreds of “wraps” to swaddle orphaned, baby wombats. “I felt like I needed to do something,” Demi told Bored Panda. “Not just donate money, but put my back into it, make something that would directly affect an animal.”
When the amber glow of bushfires crested the horizon beyond the Mogo Zoo in New South Wales, director Chad Staples said it “felt like Armageddon.” Staples, the zoo’s director, and his crew immediately cleared flammables in the fire’s path. Larger animals like lions, tigers and orangutans were moved to secure night shelters to keep them calm. What of the smaller animals? Ask the primates and cats living in Staples’ living room and backyard. “The zoo only survived because there’d been a precise plan in place,” Staples told Australian Broadcasting Company.
Ollie, an orphaned platypus, was patient number 90,000 at the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital, deceased naturalist Steve Irwin’s living legacy of wildlife welfare. The hospital has been “busier than ever” since the wildfires, Steve’s daughter, Bindi, told CNN. “We will continue . . . being Wildlife Warriors and saving as many lives as we can.” Neither the zoo nor the Irwin Family’s conservation properties are currently endangered by the wildfires.
In addition to confronting walls of flame, some firefighters have provided refuge for displaced wildlife. One possum curled up in his rescuer’s helmet while a koala camped out in the cab of a water-tanker’s truck.
Fire doesn’t scare Patsy, the shepherd-mix. On December 31, Stephan Hill rushed to his cousin’s farm outside of Corryong which was threatened by massive blazes. Upon his arrival, Patsy joined Hill on a four-wheeler and sped toward a heard of endangered sheep. Patsy scurried about, herding 220 sheep safely into a barn. All but six of the herd survived. One of five dogs deployed by the International Fund for Animal Welfare to scorched South East Queensland, “Bear” is trained to detect live koalas by the scent of their fur. The IFAW is dedicated to wildlife crime prevention, wildlife preservation and disaster preparedness worldwide.
Frightened animals across the continent appear to welcome efforts to save them. Hopping out from a blackened forrest, a singed kangaroo approached a human for a drink — and was rewarded with a shower.
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Donations can be made to several organizations working toward victim relief and recovery, including the Australian Red Cross, Salvation Army Australia, the NSW Rural Fire Service, and the St. Vincent de Paul Society Australia.
You can also help the devastated animal population by giving to wildlife rescue and treatment groups like WIRES, the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital, and Currumbin Wildlife Hospital.