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Thermal imaging technology used in mission to find wildlife displaced in Australia bushfires

February 17, 2020

Ground-breaking technology is being used to save native Australian animals after the devastating bushfire season left more than five million hectares of land burnt out. 

Native animal populations were displaced and killed with close to a quarter of the country's koala population affected.

A specialised thermal imaging drone - brand new technology - has been brought in to help from the United States. 

It's part of a mission by arial cinematographer Douglas Thron, whose work in disasters in California and the Bahamas saved scores of animals. 

"Yeah the goal right now is to primarily find where the population of animals still are, whether the habitat is intact or not," Mr Thron told Nine News.

When an animal shows up on the footage as bright yellow, it shows their body temperature, indicating signs of life in a scorched forest.

Raging bushfires throughout Australia have had a devastating impact on native wildlife, wiping out up to half of the country's koala habitats. 

"We've lost tens of thousands of koalas, they should now be listed as an endangered species particularly in on the East coast," says Stuart Blanch, spokesperson for World Wildlife Fund for nature. 

This breakthrough technology means teams like World Wildlife Fund for nature can find those animals in need quicker and easier. 

So far the technology has been used across the Kangaroo Valley, south of Sydney and there are now plans to take it to northern New South Wales in the coming weeks. 

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