⁍ The country’s worst summer of bushfires in a generation razed more than 11.2 million hectares (27.7 million acres)
In New South Wales, at least 5,000 koalas were killed in the fires.

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⁍ As another summer looms, koalas face the threat of more bushfires.

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– Koalas are on the brink of extinction in Australia, their numbers decimated by disease, climate change, logging, and wildfires, Reuters reports. “They really run the risk of becoming extinct inside our lifetime,” says an Australian pediatric nurse who works at an animal hospital. A government report warned in June that by 2050, koalas could be extinct in New South Wales, the nation’s most populous state. “If the areas that didn’t burn last year burn this year, that would really be catastrophic,’ for the koalas, says Morgan Philpott, who joined the country’s biggest animal rescue agency, WIRES, at the urging of his daughter. “Future fires could spell the end of them.” The country’s worst summer of bushfires in a generation killed at least 5,000 koalas in the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area and 24% of koala habitat on public land, according to the government’s June report. In New South Wales, at least 5,000 koalas were killed in the fires that burned 80% of the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area and 24% of koala habitat on public land, the government’s June report said. Koala conservationists, who blame climate change for much of the bushfires, are also focusing on cities as population growth in metropolises like Sydney drives demand to clear forests and make way for homes. Traffic safety signs have popped up now in developed suburbs warning of the risk of koalas crossing the road.