Irwin family's Australia Zoo hospital helps save lives of over 90,000 animals amid bushfire crisis
As Australia struggles with bush fire across various parts, millions of the country's animals have lost their lives in the flames. Reportedly, around 480 million animals have died in the past three months, according to ecologists from the University of Sydney.
Bindi Irwin, the daughter of late TV personality Steve, revealed that she and staff at Australia Zoo have been treating the injured animals. In an Instagram post, the 21-year-old posted, "With so many devastating fires within Australia, my heart breaks for the people and wildlife who have lost so much. I wanted to let you know that we are SAFE. There are no fires near us @AustraliaZoo or our conservation properties."
She added, "Our Wildlife Hospital is busier than ever though, having officially treated over 90,000 patients. My parents dedicated our Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital to my beautiful grandmother. We will continue to honor her by being Wildlife Warriors and saving as many lives as we can."
Their action comes in the wake of a heartbreaking clip of dozens of kangaroos fleeing from bushes near the New South Wales village of Bredbo that has been doing the rounds on social media. Filmed by Mitchell Lyons, it sparked quite an outrage on the internet. Talking about how the closest safe haven for the bunch was around six miles away, he said, "Look, they don't know which way to run from cars, but they sure know which way to run from the fire."
Not just kangaroos, but koalas, wallabies, possums, wombats and echidnas were all engulfed in the fire. If reports are to be believed, koalas have been affected the most, with an estimated 30 percent of a koala colony from the northeast coast missing. Not only has the incident affect wildlife but the environment too. Hazardous levels of smoke have been emitted into the atmosphere and have been choking people hundreds of miles away.
On New Year's Day, a whopping 4,650 reading of air quality index was recorded in the Australian Capital Territory. Air is considered to be hazardous if the AQI goes above 200. While places like Delhi and Kolkata lie only in the 400s, Civic registered 3,436 and Florey recorded an air quality of 3,508.