Since September 2019, a large wave of fires has impacted several regions of the state of New South Wales and other coasts of Australia. Now, in the state of Victoria, the fire season has just begun. Although it is impossible to know exact figures, approximately 6.300,000 hectares have been burned, more than 2.500 buildings have been destroyed, at least 28 people have died, and an estimated 500 million to one billion animals, many of which are only found in Australia, have been affected. Before the fires, Australia already had the highest mammal extinction rate in the world.

The devastation of the country’s unique ecosystem caused by the fires is immense. Heartbreaking images of koalas with scorched fur, charred kangaroos, burned opossums, among other images of animals that have perished have gone around the world and they have become the symbol of a country struck by the effects of climate change. Also, it is believed that other animals, such as frogs, insects, wallabies, birds, cows, lambs and others have also been severely affected. One important thing to take into account is that some animals are lucky enough to survive but afterward they must struggle to stay alive; sometimes they lack food, they cannot find shelter, or they are eaten by other animals.

Some of the species have been severely damaged, for instance, according to NGO, the Australian Koala Foundation (AKF), due to the extermination to which the koalas have been subjected, there are now only 80.000 or less of the 8 million existing in 1927. Due to the impressive number of losses of this type of animal, now it has been declared as functionally extinct, which means that the koala´s population has decreased to the point where it can no longer play an important role in the Australian ecosystem.

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, admitted in an interview with the public television network ABC that there could have been errors in the governmental attention of the disaster. The apology of prime minister comes after on Friday thousands of people protested in several cities of Australia to demand his resignation and better governmental action to fight against climate change. The conservative prime minister was very questioned about going on vacation to Hawaii (USA) in the middle of the crisis before Christmas, and during his visits to the affected areas in Australia, he has faced the rejection of some neighbors who have refused to shake hands and even have insulted him.

The bushfires that have damaged southeastern Australia are far from being controlled. Several fires merged to become mega-fires in the states of New South Wales and Victoria last week. In Victoria, a state of disaster has been declared and authorities have asked the population to evacuate the danger zones before the situation gets complicated again in the coming days. The measure was adopted in anticipation of an increase in temperatures up to 40 degrees. Although, some rain during the weekend gave some relief to the affected regions and the exhausted firefighters and local inhabitants.

Many ecologists fear that these intense and unprecedented fires will certainly lead several species to extinction. So many volunteers and people have helped and there have been hundreds of moving stories and donations, but at this point, none of that can mitigate the

Immeasurable damages that have already been caused by the catastrophe. After seeing so much flora and fauna destroyed, there are high hopes that finally biological fear awakes around the world. If we do not take care of our planet now, we will certainly regret it. With a biological apocalypse like this one, humans should really comprehend that global warming is a real thing and that its consequences are lethal.