Fires in Australia have Killed at least One Billion Animals

At least one billion animals have been killed in the fires in Australia since September last year till today, according to a local environmentalist, DPA reported.

Professor Chris Dickman of the University of Sydney changed his assessment of the animals affected by the fires. According to him, more than 800 million animals have been killed in New South Wales alone, with a national impact of more than one billion animals.

The wildfires in Australia devastated over 10.7 million hectares of land - an area larger than Portugal. At least 25 people died and thousands of homes were destroyed.

Last week, Dickman reported that more than 480 million animals were killed by wildfires in New South Wales.

The new estimate of at least one billion animals killed is based are based on a 2007 report for the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) on the impacts of land clearing on Australian wildlife in New South Wales. Dickmansuggests that this numper may be highter because "The authors deliberately employed highly conservative estimates in making their calculations. The true mortality is therefore likely to be substantially higher than those estimated."