Austraila Bush Fires In Pictures

[MA-Caver]

Once again this site puts up pictures that tell the story poignantly and vividly. The devastation that's happening down there is really sad.
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/02/bushfires_in_victoria_australi.html

These are just two of over 20 photos
Hope they have that contained soon. The loss of life has now exceeded over 100.

 

[David Weatherly]

A very sad situation. I hope the it's gotten under control very soon.

 

[MA-Caver]

Saw this photo and had to post it here.

A firefighter shares some water with an injured Koala. I thought these animals were normally shy of humans in the wild.
Amazing photo.

 

[Chris Parker]

Over 200, last I heard...

Oh, and that shot of the koala is quite unusual, as koala's don't actually drink as a rule. They get all of their moisture from the leaves of certain eucalypt (gum) trees, rather than drinking it. So that poor little guy must have been (understandably) very desperate.

 

[Cryozombie]

Once again some amazing photos of a tragic event.

 

[arnisador]

Yes, incredible photos. The scale is difficult to imagine.

 

[MA-Caver]

The loss of life isn't just limited to humans.

full article here: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/outposts/

Wildlife death toll may be in the millions from Australia wildfires

4:19 PM, February 11, 2009

Among the victims of the death and destruction caused by the wildfires ravaging Australia are millions of native animals. While the actual wildlife death toll is yet to be known, it is likely to be enormous.
"There's no doubt across that scale of landscape and given the intensity of the fires, millions of animals would have been killed," said Jon Rowdon, president of Wildlife Victoria, an area rescue group.
One animal, a koala nicknamed "Sam" by her rescuers, has become known worldwide because of a photograph taken of her accepting a water bottle from firefighter David Tree, who first noticed the injured animal moving about the scorched land.

The land "down under" is a rich environment full of literally one of a kind creatures. Such a loss of life will affect genetic diversity of each species for years to come. Hopefully zoos will help out contributing to maintaining genetic diversity to prevent these wondrous creatures from breeding themselves out or mutating before evolution is ready to change them. Help out by allowing those born in their zoos in the future months and years ahead to be set free in the wild and through artificial insemination.