Thousands of koala bears native to Australia are feared dead as new wildfires ravaged their natural habitat on Saturday. More than 28,000 koalas are known to live in a coastal area in New South Wales north of Sydney where extreme temperatures topping 106 degrees raised the fire hazard level to “severe” on Saturday. Many of the marsupials likely climbed higher in burning trees rather than escaping to safer areas. “Up to 30 percent of their habitat has been destroyed,” Australia’s environment minister Sussan Ley said Saturday. “We’ll know more when the fires are calmed down and a proper assessment can be made.” Fires have burned more than 12.35 million acres and destroyed more than 1,000 homes in the last few weeks. Nine people are known to have died.
