Hi bizi,
yes, I'm Australian.

It's been a while, but the last stats I read were from WWF but i don't want to post the link because of distressing images.

<><3 Billion animals (mammals, reptiles, birds, and frogs) were killed or displaced.

143 million mammals,
2.46 billion reptiles,
181 million birds,
and 51 million frogs occupied areas hit by the fires.>>>

An unprecedented tragedy and it was all so quickly totally forgotten because of the wretched virus. Unbelievably sad.

There are many Koala rescue hospitals and organisations and they tried their best in extreme circumstances.

I have since moved, but the area where I had been living was surrounded by pristine rain forest and even that was on fire. Fortunately a lot of that has recovered quite well and is regenerating.

I was watching recent footage of the fires up the west coast and into Canada. It was so hard to believe. I had travelled in some of those areas in Winter, so the landscape looked totally different.

P.S. I posted this on the pet forum a while back.
approx 4 mins long
Cutest Koala Compilation Ever - YouTube