Scientists and veterinarians help wildlife impacted by ex-tropical cyclone Alfred in Australia

Hannah Gallagher has a zoo of sorts in her backyard. She cares for koalas, magpie geese, a gang-gang cockatoo and a cassowary in enclosures lined with fig trees at her home about an hour outside Brisbane, Australia.

But since a tropical cyclone hit the area, the veterinary nurse working with Wildlife Rescue Queensland has been focused on birds injured or exhausted by the storm.

When ex-tropical cyclone Alfred made landfall earlier this month, the destructive winds and flash flooding were devastating for many people. More than 300,000 homes and businesses were without power. But along the east coast of the continent, local wildlife also took a hit.

Koalas, kangaroos and possums were injured and displaced. Scientists say it’s part of a trend already underway, with extreme weather events and temperatures impacting species across Australia. Data shows some bird populations have decreased by more than 50% in the last 25 years.

“It’s a bit like the Wizard of Oz, caught up in a cyclone and dumped somewhere completely weird and out of your routine,” Gallagher said as she placed a seabird with black feathers on a cart for its third feeding of the day.

On an afternoon a week after the storm, six birds rested quietly in mesh carriers inside an air conditioned triage room in Gallagher’s backyard. A white bird with an orange beak was lying on its belly. A gray bird, small enough to fit in someone’s hand, was doing a little better, hopping around inside its mesh carrier. Locals had rushed 38 birds to her home for care. Only six have survived so far.

Gallagher wore gloves as she guided a little fish into a bird’s beak. Her next patient was dubbed Big Burps by one of its rescuers.

“He was so exhausted when he first came in. He was actually getting little pressure sores on his hooks,” she explained. “They’re usually on the water paddling or they’re flying through the sky.”

Some of these birds are rarely on land, so Gallagher has been keeping an eye on their feet, which have not been used to holding their weight for so long. 

Helping the birds recover isn’t the end of the journey. Returning them to their flocks is still an issue. These birds thrive as part of a group; some even need specific wind conditions to take flight.

“We’re trying to work out where’s the best chance to release these guys, so they do go back to a flock of their own kind and actually live the life they’re meant to live,” she added.

Meanwhile, south of Brisbane at Currumbin Wildlife Hospital, senior veterinarian Michael Pyne said the facility saw roughly 500 wildlife patients in the 10 days after the storm, some with numerous injuries.

“A lot of broken bones. It was across the board but those that had the worst injuries were those tree-dwelling animals: koalas, possums, anything that lives up in the trees,” he said.

The hospital, for the first time ever, even evacuated in time for the cyclone. Afterward, a koala named Laura Leaf ended up having to recover from surgery at the home of a senior nurse. 

“She liked this whole idea of one-on-one attention and having a bit of love in someone’s bedroom, so it worked out well,” Pyne said, adding that the storm has been particularly rough for the koala population. “Every koala’s important and to lose any of them is heartbreaking.”

Some endangered species are also up against extreme weather intensified by climate change in Australia.

“The prediction for climate change, generally speaking, is that most species will head away from the equator towards the poles,” said April Reside, a lecturer in the School of the Environment at the University of Queensland.

Animals in rainforests can be vulnerable to extreme heat and storms, she added. Wildfires have also become more frequent and intense, making it harder for certain species, such as the long-footed potoroo, a small marsupial, to survive. 

“The little species that might be able to persist in the face of a low intensity burn, a patchy burn — where some areas remain unburnt and others are heavily burnt — they still have somewhere to hide from the flames and the predators that might come,” she said. “But if it all burns, there might not be anywhere for the little critters to go.”

Some bird species in Australia are moving south to cooler areas. Reside said there may not be a lot that can be done to protect wildlife from longer droughts and increasingly extreme storms.

But scientists are using sophisticated models to map out areas of the continent with conditions where species are most likely to survive. Fossil and pollen records show that species have survived historic periods of climate change by moving.

“If we can find the areas which are suitable for species in the future,” Reside explained, “and we can make sure those areas are secured for the biodiversity that needs them, that is probably one of the best things we can do.”