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JANUARY 21, 2002 | NO. 2
Saving the Fires's Smallest Victims
By LEORA MOLDOFSKY
Since Jan. 4, home for the greater glider possum in the care
of Corinne Bushby has been a large plastic crate in her rescuer's
spare bedroom. Found singed and stunned on a burned-out property
in Oakdale, south of Sydney, the young survivor was brought
to the Sydney Metropolitan Wildlife Service volunteer's home
in nearby Buxton. Bushby says the glider is recovering well:
"She growled at me the other day while I was applying
burn cream to her paws. That's a very good sign. People think
injured possums are so friendly because they just sit there,
but that's because they're suffering shock."
Other animals were not so lucky. While no human lives have
been lost in the New South Wales bushfires that began on Christmas
Eve, tens of thousands of mammals, birds and reptiles are
believed to have perished in the infernos that engulfed 300,000
hectares of national parks and reserves. Countless others
escaped the flames only to be hit by cars or killed by backyard
predators, starvation or dehydration. Of the hundreds that
found their way into the care of volunteers, many were so
badly injured they had to be destroyed.
It may be many months before habitats are green enough for
the survivors to return, but, says N.S.W. National Parks and
Wildlife Service head Brian Gilligan, "already, shoots
are emerging from the blackened soil and honeyeater birds
are singing again." Vulnerable creatures like the greater
glider will need at least a decade without fires to recover
their numbers. It's a sobering thought that N.S.W.'s last
severe bushfires occurred only eight years ago. -Leora Moldofsky
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