School hall becomes hospital for orphaned and injured koalas

Nurses feed an injured male koala at Adelaide Koala Rescue which has been set up in the gymnasium at Paradise Primary School in Adelaide. Photo / Getty Images

In the wake of the bushfire crisis that swept through South Australia, some Adelaide locals have taken it upon themselves to care for the area's displaced koala population.

More than 100 koalas are being cared for in a makeshift hospital set up at Paradise Primary School, northeast of Adelaide.

Adelaide Koala Rescue saved several koalas from the Cudlee Creek blaze, delivering them to be treated at the makeshift hospital that is fast reaching capacity.

Photo / Getty Images

The facility is powered by 150 volunteers, working around the clock to care for the animals.

"We've had a few come in that were just singed all over," Jane Brister, director of Adelaide Koala Rescue, told the Daily Mail about some of the hospital's recent patients.

"It's almost as though they were curled in a ball when the flames (hit), the heat just went straight over the top of them."

The small hospital recently played host to Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese, who walked among the many foldable playpens serving as koala hospital beds.

The animals are reportedly separated into different pens depending on their needs. Orphaned marsupials, those suffering burns and others with chlamydia (common among koalas) are all housed separately.

Once caretakers feel like a koala is fully healed and able to climb and thrive outside, the animal is released back into the wild.

Ms Brister said there had been no shortage of support for the cause, with a GoFundMe page raising more than $80,000 and others offering practical help.

Photo / Getty Images

It's been estimated that 1.25 billion native animals have perished in the Australian bushfires, including koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, wombats and more.

As many as 8,400 koalas have already been lost to the NSW fires alone, with these numbers continuing to rise.

In South Australia, thousands of koalas are believed to have died in the Kangaroo Island blazes alone, where 155,000 hectares were burnt through.

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Sam Mitchell, co-owner of the Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park, told Guardian Australia 50 injured koalas had been brought to them.

"At least a third of what has been brought in we've had to euthanise, unfortunately," he said.

"We are seeing many burns to hands and feet – fingernails melted off. For some, the burns are just too extreme."

BATTLING EXTINCTION

Despite the devastation to their natural habitat, one koala expert says the species won't be on the verge of extinction.

Central Queensland University koala expert Dr Alistair Melzer told news.com.au that the species' survival was dependent on the types of fires in each region.

"Where there has been catastrophic crown fires the local populations will have been lost. Koalas instinctively climb to the top of trees, so they will have been lost in places where those types of fires have happened. Not just koalas, but many other animals," he explained.

While the Australian Koala Foundation deems a species to be "functionally extinct" once there are less than 50,000 in the wild, Dr Melzer disagrees.

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"There will be population impacts on local and regional areas in Victoria and southeastern NSW, but the species will be able to survive," he said.

"Koalas will be able to recover, but that's dependent on this climate change-driven drought, aquifers and tree recovery," he added.

"Koalas mostly live in low-density areas and their population is extensively connected, so their recovery will depend on how the habitat recovers."