General News
30 August, 2025
Bushfire threaten Victoria's native wildlife
Devastating bushfires continue to threaten Victoria’s native wildlife, with experts warning some species could be driven to extinction if catastrophic fires return in the coming summers.
Federation University Australia wildlife ecologist Dr Grant Palmer said dry conditions in the state’s west are slowing vegetation recovery after massive fires.
He said more than 70 per cent of the Grampians-Gariwerd, Little Desert and Mt Cole burned, leaving species such as the South-eastern Red-tailed Black Cockatoo, Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby and Long-nosed Potoroo at risk.
Other species, including the Eastern Bristlebird, Eastern Ground Parrot, Glossy Black Cockatoo, Southern Greater Glider, Broad-toothed Rat and Spotted-tailed Quoll, are still struggling after the Black Summer fires in 2020.
“These most recent events at the start of this year followed other equally devastating fires, and that has upset the balance,” Dr Palmer said.
“The environment has been recovering from earlier fires, but the latest fires shift the recovery trajectory and have amplified the problems these species have.”
Victoria’s Red-tailed Black Cockatoo population has dropped to about 1400.
Clearing and modification have already destroyed more than 90 per cent of their preferred habitat, and fires further limit food and nesting hollows.
The birds depend on dwindling healthy woodlands, particularly brown stringybark seeds.
Conservation agencies, landholders and citizen scientists have launched monitoring programs and installed nestboxes to help the cockatoos breed.
Dr Palmer warned that their long lifespan, which is up to 50 years, combined with low reproductive rates, raises fears for survival.
“Many people are passionate about these birds, and the risk is that another major fire could really push them to the brink,” he said.
He stressed that the ecosystem requires fire to regenerate and produce seeds, but habitats need at least five to ten years between burns.
“The habitats just don’t get that opportunity where fires occur too frequently or burn too severely,” he said.