A 'cascade of environmental changes' have resulted in more animals dying in the current bushfires than previous blazes, a wildlife rescuer says.
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Kangaloola Wildlife Shelter's Chris Lehmann said no burnt or injured animals have emerged from the Corryong fire - but that wasn't necessarily good news.
"We've had no burnt animals, literally there's nothing coming from up there, we've spoken to the shelter operator in Corryong and they've seen zero as well," he said.
"How do we explain that? We'll it's partly guesswork.
"We know the fireground is still dangerous and roads are closed so people aren't looking. But we're also worried conditions were so bad before the fire, that we won't see the kind of animals coming out of firegrounds like we used to for the same reason they say the fires have changed, nature has changed.
"We're speculating there will be less [animals] because more have been killed."
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Mr Lehmann said native animals including koalas and possums, were struggling in the heat and dry landscape resulting in extraordinary desperate behaviour.
"Everything is piling up on top of everything else - it's a cascade of environmental challenges and problems all finally represented in the bushfire as the final act," he said. "The trees don't have moisture so how are animals who eat leaves meant to get moisture?
"Koalas can't get the moisture they need from trees, so they're dropping down to go looking for it.
"We've had about three joeys walking up to people and climbing up their legs wanting help.
"It's telling us the animals are in trouble."
Mr Lehmann said about six heat stressed koalas had been picked up by the rescue in the last month, when normally they'd only expect to see two over the whole summer.
He said if anyone sees a koala sitting on the ground they should call a rescue straight away as this was not normal behaviour.
Mr Lehmann said rather than pouring water into an animal's mouth, it was best to pour water into a container or on the ground and let an animal lap it up.
He said if anyone comes across a burnt animal they should wrap it in pure cotton only, and get it to a vet.