Koalas and mates run for lives in Oz bush blazes

"A number of the areas affected had koalas in them and those are very small, isolated populations," Sharp says. "Regardless of whether animals have come in or not, these fires have been very hot, and there is always a lower likelihood that animals will survive that."

Not everyone is so pessimistic, though. At Taronga Zoo, on the shores of Sydney Harbour, vets have seen just one animal injured by this year's fires and when senior veterinarian Larry Vogelnest compares that to the two brought in during the 1994 fires he doesn't see any cause to be alarmed.

"There's a lot of history with respect to fires in the Australian bush and there is no doubt that particularly since European settlement in Australia, with the many other factors that affect animal populations, fires have contributed to the demise of some animal species," Dr. Vogelnest says.

In addition, the fact is that "the Australian bush is designed to be burned. Many of the [plant] species rely on fire to reproduce." Many animals also have adapted.

Kangaroos outrun fires. Wombats - a sleepy-eyed marsupial - burrow underground. And while koalas have a reputation for getting stuck during fires in the explosive eucalyptuses they favor as food, the reality, Vogelnest says, is that they can often ride out fires in the leafy canopy if the blaze is limited to the undergrowth.

While many of the fires this year have leaped into the canopy, he says, the evidence so far points to the fact that, "most of the areas that have been burned have not been completely burned. So there are still areas for animals to go into and seek refuge."

That, Vogelnest argues, means that while individual animals may have died or been injured, populations - and species - are fairly unlikely to have been affected.

Much of the vegetation in these fires typically bounces back quickly and the animal life usually isn't far behind.

"I'm talking about within a week to 10 days of the fire, you get some growth back," Vogelnest says. "Trees shoot very, very quickly after fires, and all those young leaves provide excellent nutrition for the animals that are left."

There is a tragic side to this year's fires in that authorities believe many of them were set by arsonists, making some of the inevitable animal deaths an act of misdirected cruelty. Almost 30 people have been arrested on suspicion of arson, many of them teenagers.

But fire is a natural phenomenon in Australia and that it brings life almost as quickly as it takes it away.

Like many other WIRES volunteers, Jenny Peters is philosophical about the fires. They are just part of life in Australia, she concedes.

But she is still eagerly waiting for the all-clear from authorities to go into the fire-affected areas so that she can lend a helping hand to any injured animals she may find.

One of the four possums she has been taking care of - the injured mother - has died. But in the nearby Royal National Park, she is convinced there are dozens more victims waiting for help.

"I think it's going to be about two weeks before they let anybody in. But we're anxious to get in there," she says. "There's all these little wallabies in there that probably have burned feet."

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