5 Apr 2024

What happened to koalas rescued from the Black Summer fires?

From Afternoons, 1:25 pm on 5 April 2024

Images of injured koalas and kangaroos were splashed across the news during the 2020 Black Summer bushfires as volunteers carried out rescues. An estimated three billion animals were caught in the fire zone that burned through 8 million hectares of South Eastern Australia. A new study shows that despite rescue efforts, rehabilitation rates for wildlife were much lower than expected. 

Catherine Herbert is an Associate Professor in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation at The University of Sydney. She joins Jesse to discuss.

A dehydrated and injured Koala receives treatment at the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital in Port Macquarie on November 2, 2019, after its rescue from a bushfire that has ravaged an area of over 2,000 hectares.

Photo: AFP

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