Heartbreaking photos that show the impact of devastating bushfires have emerged since the blazes started ravaging Australia.
Photos taken in New South Wales illustrate how a burnt young kangaroo begged for help from a teen, who gave it a bowl of water to drink and doused it with water.
The poor creature managed to get off lightly as billions of animals died from the devastating fires.
According to ecologists from the University of Sydney, around 480 million birds, mammals, and reptiles have been wiped out since September due to apocalyptic bushfires.
“We’re getting a lot of lessons out of this and it’s just showing how unprepared we are,” Dr. Kellie Leigh, science for Wildlife executive director, said to New South Wales upper house inquiry.
“There’s no procedures or protocols in place – even wildlife carers don’t have protocols for when they can go in after fire.”
Many animals have been affected in the country, which is home to numerous indigenous fauna including koalas, kangaroos, wombats, possums, echidnas, and wallabies. According to reports, it is believed that one-third of koalas have been wiped out.
“With the climate being so dry at the moment, and the intensity of these fires, wet gully areas and so on that normally escape the worst of it have been burnt,” Mike Letnic, professor of conservation biology at the University of Sydney, said to the Sydney Morning Herald.
“Animals that typically survive in these patches that don’t burn can recolonise from these refuges, but there may be too few pathways to allow for effective recolonisation. It will depend on how many refugees are left.”
1,500 homes have been destroyed and hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated.
New South Wales Transport Minister told ABC: “I’ve got to be honest with you, this isn’t a bushfire, it’s an atomic bomb.
“It’s indescribable the hell it’s caused and the devastation it’s caused.”
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Replaced!