The family of late wildlife conservationist Steve Irwin says it has saved 90,000 animals at their wildlife hospital in Australia, as bushfires continue to ravage the country and destroy its animals and nature.
Irwin's daughter, Bindi announced in a Friday Instagram post that the family's wildlife hospital at the Australia Zoo in Queensland had now treated more than 90,000 patients.
"With so many devastating fires within Australia, my heart breaks for the people and wildlife who have lost so much," she said.
Bindi added that while the hospital is safe from the bushfires, which are concentrated in southeastern Australia, the number of patients are rising due to the flames.
"Our Wildlife Hospital is busier than ever though, having officially treated over 90,000 patients," she said.
The family's patients included "Blossom the possum," which was admitted after being caught in one of the bushfires in other parts of Queensland. The possum later died despite efforts from the hospital's veterinarian team.
Other patients included grey-headed flying foxes, a species of bat listed as vulnerable in Australia.
The bats had been flown into Queensland after their rescue center was evacuated due to the fires, Bindi said.
Ecologists at the University of Sydney estimate around 480 million animals — mammals, birds, and reptiles — have been killed, directly or indirectly, by the devastating blazes since they began in September, 2019.
Australian firefighters used a break from searing temperatures on Tuesday to strengthen containment lines around huge wildfires as the financial and environmental costs of the crisis mounted.
More than 25.5 million acres of land an area the size of South Korea - have been razed by bushfires across the country in recent weeks, according to the latest data, with the southeast particularly hard hit.
Imagery posted online from the Himawari 8 Japanese satellite and Nasa's Earth Observatory showed plumes of smoke from the fires reaching as far as South America.
Australia's bushfire season started earlier than normal this year following a three-year drought that has left much of the country's bushland vulnerable to fires.
