monique's+group

=Endangered Species Research Task = By Monique, Eboni , Madeleine , Sarah and Joy

media type="custom" key="4215313" T o see the affected area, zoom out atleast seven so you can see the whole part that was burnt out in Wilsons Promontory during the Victorian Bushfires 2009. also read the tags on both the blue shape (showing the burnt areas) and the pin (Wilsons Promontory National Park ) media type="youtube" key="U9x8jeqlGCE" height="505" width="640" This is a video about some of the animals that were caught in the fires. source: []
 * Map Showing Wilsons Promontory: Bushfire Affected Areas. **
 * source:** []

Information on some of the emost effected animals in the bushfires including the Sooty Owl, Koala and Ledbeaters Possum.


** Sooty Owl. **
T he Sooty Owl is a large bird that lives in pockets of rainforest and wet eucalypt gullies in Eastern Victoria. The bushfires have destroyed a substantial amount of the Sooty Owls habitat, so even if they did survive the bushfires the already venerable specie is even more at risk as they have no home to go to. The Sooty Owls nested in large old trees with and preys on other species which also nest in the same spots so they will have trouble finding food. There are less than one thousand breeding couples now left in the state.  

**Lead beaters possum. **
The lead beaters possum is the Victoria’s faunal emblem. The lead beaters possum was believed to be extinct for almost sixty years. The small lead beaters possum was rediscovered in Marysville in 1961. Fire is a threat to both the lead beaters possum and its habitat. Intense fire can destroy the old trees with hollows that provide crucial habitat for the possum. Lead beaters tend to retreat to their homes rather than run away when they detect smoke. Fewer than 3000 lead beater’s possum survived the Victorian bushfires. the fires swept through 2 of the 3 know home rangers. at lake mountain, 30 nest boxes for breeding were put in 6 years ago now there are only 2 remaining. current estimates are that up to 60% of the species home range remain. 

**Koala. **
The koala is a marsupial mammal found in open eucalypt forests and lightly wooded regions from south-east Queensland to south-east South Australia. It has a large round head, large round furry ears and a stout body with long arms but short legs. The koala is a very good tree-climber, though slow and clumsy on the ground. It is covered in thick ash-grey fur, with white on their chests, inner arms, and ears. They have a stub tail and the fur on its bottom is densely packed to provide comfort when sitting on hard branches. Koalas grow to a length of 60-85 cm. The male weighs up to 13.5 kg, and the female weighs up to 7.9kg. The diet of a koala is restricted to eucalypt leaves. It has developed cheek pouches for storing food and a digestive system able to deal with unpalatable and even toxic compounds in eucalypt leaves. An adult koala eats an average 500g to 1kg of leaves and young shoots a day. Not all eucalypt species are eatable to a koala, only 50 of the 500 or more species are suitable to the koala's diet. Koalas are able to sniff leaves to see if they are suitable to eat. Koalas suffered terribly from the Victorian bushfires. Many were burned, died of dehydration, fell out of their homes as it was being destroyed, and so many other unforgivable reasons. Koalas live in the trees they are the most affected !

** Background on the Bushfires. **
 The devastating bushfires occurred on the 7th of February to the 14th March. Over 4,500km has been burned in Victoria. National parks, farmland, forest reserves, and many more land have been burned by the Victorian bushfires. Victorian bushfires have been one of the worst experiences for Australian animals and humans. Millions of animals have been affected by the wild bushfires. These animals are either to slow to out run the fires, trapped because of the surrounding fire, already half burnt and can’t go on, birds dropping out of the sky because of the smock, and many more reasons. This is a short list of just some of the disasters coursed by the fires

· 3,500 structures destroyed <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">59 shops, pubs, service stations, golf clubs etc destroyed. <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">12 community buildings, including 2 police stations, 3 schools, 3 churches, and 1 fire stations destroyed. <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">39 km of private bush land destroyed <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">O ver 55 businesses destroyed <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">O ver 11,000 living things killed or injured <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">950 local parks, 70 national parks and reserves, and over 600 cultural sites and historic placed destroyed. <span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> It’s going to take about 80 years for our vegetation to recover. Our land and homes are so affected by the fires because once these vicious fires have started they cannot stop, because we have so much vegetation that it can feed on. Our regions are so vulnerable to the fire because of our climate. We have been having below average rainfall over the last 13 years. Our regions are very dry and are ideal for fires, so now fire is considered a serious threat to Australia. Australia’s leading scientists have been warning us for many years that climate change will lead to more frequent and intense fires. But I know that I didn’t think it would ever get this bad.

How are Healesville Sanctuary helping the Bushfire Animals?
<span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="font-size: 110%; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Healesville Sanctuary supports animals that need caring for from the devastating Victorian Bushfires. Supplies and drugs are being provided. They provided about 5,000 procedures annually, from simple check-ups to major surgery. “It is difficult to move an injured Eastern Grey kangaroo, for example, and we have some carers looking after quite a few," Dr Rupert Baker, Senior Veterinarian said. "It is important that we assist in any way we can." They say that if they need to make food drops, they need to make them on private pasture land to reduce the impact of introducing weeds into regenerating native bush. This is because weeds are considered to be the most serious threat to the biodiversity values of our land. Healesville Sanctuary is dealing with an increasing number of injured wildlife, because of the bushfires. They also have been treating a number of animals that have been hit by vehicles, this will become more common as wildlife return to their damaged homes, to try and find new homes. They are going to take care of animals for a long time, because some of the animals will not even be able to return to their home because of their injuries. Their experts are also providing telephone service for other triage centres and vets in the treatment of injured wildlife. Donations to the Healesville Sanctuary have helped them to distribute additional resources to their wildlife response. <span style="font-size: 110%; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One great doing from the Healesville Sanctuary is saving the amazing Koala Amelia Fritz. Amelia Fritz has an amazing story to tell, being a Koala makes it all the more incredible. Amelia was brought in to Healesville Sanctuary tired, dehydrated, half-starved and traumatised after the fires near Alexandra destroyed her home. Two staff from Healesville found her after they negotiated roadblocks and detours under the guidance of authorities to come to the aid of Amelia and 3 other koalas. Once she reached the sanctuary she was immediately treated for dehydration and burns to her feet. Even 48 hours the veterinary team from the Australian Wildlife Health Centre would change Amelia’s bandages and clean her wounds with saline. The procedure took up to an hour. She is under the secure guard of her wildlife carer Liz and is off her drip and has only one claw left bandaged. <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; msospacerun: yes;">

** The Lorax's Speech **
<span style="display: block; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; text-align: center;"> I am the Lorax, I speak for the trees, but now I also speak for the animals’ needs. The Victorian bushfires took so many lives, but the animals were also struggling to survive. Koalas, Echidnas, Wombats and Possums, they were all affected from top to bottom. So many species still recovering from their injuries. It makes me feel so sad and should make you feel so bad. Your climate is bad, and it makes me so MAD! Though we could help the future by changing our ways and helping the environment so the animals will stay. We could reduce green house gases by taking the bus, and less electricity, that might help us. People think it’s now ok, because animals have been reinhabited in a lot of ways. But what happens when this happens again? They will suffer terribly, but who’s to blame? You are I say, you’re scaring them away! There are not enough people, time and space, for everyone to ever win this race. You’re feeding them rubbish and making them sick, so…stop it. There are weeds everywhere so the bush won’t grow back, its making you look pretty slack. We should learn from our mistakes, so our future is a piece of cake. They need care so be prepared and beware!

** Written Question about the Bushfires. **
**<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">How is the community keeping effected animals safe? ** <span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> Many communities are helping animals keep safe, but just how are they doing this? Given the devastation caused by the Bushfires, the Commonwealth Government is providing a comprehensive Recovery Assistance Package to support people who have been adversely affected. People are contributing lots of money to communities so they can help protect the effected animals. ‘Master’ donated US $30,000, so communities could purchase much-needed power generators, tools, and other urgent supplies. Then two weeks later donated US $20,000 more, this was sent to various animal shelters that were in desperate need of medicines that needed to be used for sick, injured animals. A big post whole digger was provided to help the community to rebuild their fences to keep their animals safe. The Lort Smith Hospital attends to animals requiring surgery, and helped many animals who had been caught up in the fires. The University of Melbourne's faculty of Veterinary Science has offered free care for animals injured in Victoria’s bushfires, as well as many other communities. The free care is available for pets and horses, which they are keeping at the university’s veterinary clinic and hospital at Werribee. Sound Relief was a concert set up to aid the bush fire victims. It was held at the MCG in Melbourne and the SCG in Sydney, starring bands and singers such as Coldplay, Hunters and Collectors, Jet, Gabriella Cilmi, Wolfmother and Taylor Swift. Both of the concerts raised a total of 8 million dollars for the appeal. The citizens of Australia have provided outstanding community spirit whilst these devastating bushfires have taken place in Victoria. I know that people affected by the bushfires want to make sure that their pets are cared for, and are under complete safety.

This is a video of John Farnham and Coldplay playing at Sound Relief.
media type="youtube" key="24mv00HhF-g" width="425" height="350"

Bibliography.
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: DE;"> (‘Koala, 2009‘) Aussie-info.com. (2009) Koala. <span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; msoansilanguage: DE; mso-ansi-language: DE; msospacerun: yes;"> <span style="font-size: 110%; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">[Internet] Aussie Info.com Available from: <[]> [15 August 2009]

(‘Sound Relief Concert, 2009‘) News.com (2009) Sound Relief Concert. [Internet] News.com Available from: <[] > [11 August 2009]

(‘Black Saturday bushfires, 2009’) Wikipedia. (2009) [Internet] Wikipedia Available from: < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Saturday_bushfires > [5th August 2009]

(‘Worst Fire Season on Record Predicted for Victoria’, 2009). ABC (2009) Worst Fire Season on Record Predicted for Victoria [Internet] ABC Available from: < http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cache:IGgZhQQ-XfQJ:www.abc.net.au/am/content/2009/s2639423.htm+why+is+victoria+so+vulnerable+by+the+fires%3F&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=au > [7th June 2009]

(‘Impact of the 2009 Bushfires on Nature and Wildlfe’,2009). The Wilderness Society (2009) Impact on the 2009 Bushfires on Nature and Wildlife [Internet] The Wilderness Society Available from:< []> [7th August 2009]

(‘Victoria’s Native Wildlife Following the Bushfires’, 2009). Zoos Victoria (2009) Feeding Victoria’s Native Wildlife Following the Bushfires [Internet] Zoos Victoria. Available from: < []> [12th August 2009]

(‘Healesville Sanctuary Responds in the Wake of the Bushfires’, 2009) Zoos Victoria (2009) Healesville Sanctuary Responds in the Wake of the Bushfires [Internet] Zoos Victoria Available from: < http://www.zoo.org.au/Healesville/News/Healesvilles_Bushfire_Response > [12th August 2009] (‘Community Spirit Shines in the “Black Saturday Bushfires”, 2009) Love in Action (2009) Community Spirit Shines in the “Black Saturday Bushfires” [Internet] Love in Action. Available from: <[]> [18th August 2009]