Australia is on fire, a blanket of smoke is covering the east coast, both Human and Wildife has been lost.
This news is absolutely devastating for our Wildife, especially after seeing the same disastrous events occurring not two months ago. The New South Wales fire service alone estimates over 5 million hectares of bush land has been destroyed. 500 of the 600 resident koalas in Port Macquarie have been lost and thousands of other wildlife have perished as well. Lizards, snakes, birds, echidnas, possums, bandicoots, turtles, sugar gliders, kangaroos, wallabies, and countless other critters would have lost their lives.
Thankfully our flying foxes and microbats are capable of flight and would have left the danger zones. However, the bush that is burning was full of eucalyptus trees and many other species of blossoming and fruiting trees. This has now all been destroyed. So while our bats may not be directly impacted by the fires, they have lost a vast range of food supply. This comes as a hard blow for the flying foxes after only just recently witnessing so many dying from starvation. Loss of such vegetation on such a large scale will have a huge knock on effect for all species of wildife, bats included.
The Gold Coast and our local bat colonies are safe at present. A fire was burning out of control within the local hinterland, but has since been downgraded.
A massive thank you must be extended to the fire service personnel who are working tirelessly around the clock to save both people and properties. Another thank you is extended to the local Wildife rescue organisations of the affected areas who are working to save what they can.
Photo credit to various media outlets.