Wildlife Welfare During and After Wildfires

Wildfires cause immediate mortality and injury to wildlife while habitat destruction creates prolonged welfare challenges for surviving animals; recovery support can mitigate long-term harm.

Key Facts

The 2019-2020 Australian bushfires killed or displaced an estimated 3 billion animals
Surviving animals face burns, respiratory damage, and loss of habitat and food sources
Post-fire landscapes provide some ecological benefits through regeneration but transition periods are welfare-challenging
Wildlife hospitals treating post-fire casualties develop specialised burn treatment protocols
Climate change is increasing the frequency, intensity, and geographic range of wildfires globally

Welfare Considerations

Wildfire welfare harm operates across multiple timescales. The immediate phase causes thermal burns, smoke inhalation, and mortality from fire that are acute and obvious. The post-fire phase causes prolonged welfare harm through habitat loss that forces surviving animals into marginal resources — injured animals attempting to access burned landscapes with damaged feet and eyes, foraging in depleted areas, competing more intensely as habitat shrinks. The Australian bushfire crisis demonstrated the scale of wildlife welfare impact at continental scale. Recovery support through wildlife rehabilitation, water provision in burned areas, and supplementary feeding can mitigate post-fire welfare harm in the critical recovery period.

What You Can Do

Donate to wildlife rehabilitation centres treating fire casualties when major fires occur
Support post-fire wildlife welfare programmes including water provision and supplementary feeding
Advocate for prescribed burning programmes that reduce catastrophic wildfire risk
Engage with climate policy as a long-term wildfire welfare intervention
Support habitat recovery programmes in post-fire landscapes