More than 1 Billion Animals Estimated Dead in Australia Wildfires

• 01.09.2020, 14:40
•  World,  No-politics

Matthew Abbott/The New York Times via Redux

The World Wildlife Fund in Australia estimates that as many as 1.25 billion animals may have been killed directly or indirectly from fires that have scorched Australia.

"The fires have been devastating for Australia’s wildlife and wild places, as massive areas of native bushland, forests and parks have been scorched," Stuart Blanch, an environmental scientist with the World Wildlife Fund in Australia, told USA TODAY. Many forests will take many decades to recover, he said.

The fires, which have been blazing since September, have killed 26 people, destroyed 2,000 homes and scorched an area twice the size of the state of Maryland.