Mallacoota local Patrick Boyle has been lauded as a "hero" on social media for his efforts to save seven koalas after a fire ripped through the town in Victoria.
"He has been out searching the bushes to find injured wildlife ever since the fire has passed. He has taken them all to the Mallacoota wildlife shelter," his sister-in-law Renae Bruce posted on Facebook yesterday.
"If you want to donate big or small every bit counts to helping out all the injured wildlife. The shelter is currently inundated with burnt and homeless wildlife but they are doing there (sic) best to help them all," Ms Bruce wrote said.
Animal Rescue Craft Guild volunteers from Australia and abroad have been creating pouches and wraps for joey, birds and bats rescued from the bushfires.
Sydney University Professor Chris Dickman has estimated 480 million animals have been killed in the state of New South Wales alone since bushfires started there last September.
"Many of the affected animals are likely to have been killed directly by the fires, with others succumbing later due to the depletion of food and shelter resources and predation from introduced feral cats and red foxes," the university said in a statement.
"The true loss of animal life is likely to be much higher than 480 million. NSW’s wildlife is seriously threatened and under increasing pressure from a range of threats, including land clearing, exotic pests and climate change," the university stated.
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