Wildlife

South Australia Wildfires Kill and Injure Many Animals

Some of South Australia’s worst wildfires in 30 years killed or injured an untold number of animals earlier this month in addition to destroying at least 32 human homes and sending 100 people to hospitals.

Many surviving animals have been left without food, water or access to shelter.

Among the more heartbreaking images to come out of the firestorms near Adelaide were photos of koalas being treated for burnt paws.

The head of one animal rescue organization said that when caught in a wildfire, koalas “get to a point where they are in so much pain … they just sit at the bottom of a tree and scream.”

A public appeal for people to make mittens for the burnt marsupials was quickly heeded.

Most of the rescued koalas are expected to recover enough to be returned to the wild.

Polar Bears Head North As Arctic Sea Ice Melts

Recent generations of polar bears have been observed moving high into the Canadian Arctic in response to climate change and the melting of Arctic sea ice.

Using DNA samples, U.S. Geological Survey researchers found that some clusters of known polar bear populations have migrated over the past 15 to 45 years to islands of the Canadian Archipelago that have more stable sea ice.

Lead researcher Elizabeth Peacock says the bears have chosen this area because it is "where the sea is more resilient to summer melt due to circulation patterns, complex geography and cooler northern latitudes.”

She and her colleagues conclude that the regions closest to the North Pole could serve as a last refuge for the bears, which need the ice to travel, forage and mate.

Arctic sea ice has declined in autumn by more than 9 percent per decade since 1979.

Climate models predict that even the northernmost parts of the Arctic will be mainly ice-free before the middle of this century.