Sussan Ley’s estimate suggests up to 8,400 koalas may have perished in the bushfires

This article is more than 8 months old

This article is more than 8 months old

Australia’s environment minister has said up to 30% of koalas on the New South Wales mid-north coast may have been killed in the country’s ongoing bushfire crisis.

Nationally, more than 5m hectares have been burned in an unprecedented bushfire season that has also killed nine people. Some 3.4m hectares have been burnt in NSW alone.

The state’s mid-north coast is home to a significant number of Australia’s koalas, with an estimated population between 15,000 to 28,000.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Koalas inside a home in Cudlee Creek, South Australia, after being rescued from fires in a garden. Photograph: Adam Mudge/AP

On Friday, the federal environment minister, Sussan Ley, said up to 30% of the koalas in the region had been killed, because “up to 30% of their habitat has been destroyed”.

“We’ll know more when the fires are calmed down and a proper assessment can be made,” she told the ABC’s AM radio program.

Fires tore through the mid-north coast in November, and further emergency-level blazes have since flared in NSW near Sydney, on the NSW south coast, in South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia.

However, early reports that koalas were “functionally extinct” in Australia were deemed to be incorrect and an exaggeration, though the species is under threat.

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In December, a NSW government inquiry was told that thousands of koalas had been killed, and the fires were so large “we will probably never find the bodies”.

In the Adelaide Hills in SA, volunteer firefighters shared images of koalas rescued from the fires – including six in one house, and two koalas who came out of the bush looking for help.

“I get mail from all around the world from people absolutely moved and amazed by, number one, our wildlife volunteer response, and also by the habits of these curious creatures,” Ley said.

Other endangered and vulnerable animals have also been affected by the fires, like the western ground parrot in WA, and the Kangaroo Island dunnart – a small marsupial – in SA.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest At Lobethal in the Adelaide Hills, another town hit by the Cudlee Creek blaze, two koalas came out of the bush to escape the fire. Photograph: Eden Hills Country Fire Service/Facebook

“It doesn’t need to be fluffy and cute, it can be scaly and scratchy, and it’s just as important to me as environment minister but also to the Australian environment,” Ley said. “The western ground parrot has been affected by fires and the Kangaroo Island dunnart similarly.”

Koala populations and other endangered species have been significantly affected by land clearing, habitat destruction and the effects of global heating.

Before this year’s bushfire crisis, koala populations in NSW and Queensland had already dropped by 42% between 1990 and 2010, according to the federal threatened species scientific committee.

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James Tremain, a spokesman for the NSW Nature Conservation Council, told Guardian Australia in November that koala decline has been happening “slowly and silently”.

“Koala numbers have plunged over the past 20 years,” he said. “We are directly destroying thousands of hectares of their forests through clearing for agriculture and logging for timber. But we are also shrinking available habitat indirectly as a result of climate change.”

On Friday, Ley said the government was doing enough on climate change.

“Climate change is a huge issue and we are playing our part,” she said. “We are meeting and beating our targets, it’s very important that we do that.

“My focus is on the things we can do on the ground, with practical action here in Australia that do make a difference.”