ANKARA Australia’s deadly bushfires estimated to have killed 1.25 billion animals and burned over 20 million acres of area in the country, according to an international environmental group. "Around 1.25 billion animals may have been killed directly or indirectly from fires that have burnt 8.4 million hectares [over 20 million acres] across Australia, equivalent to the whole of country of Austria," World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Australia said in a statement on Tuesday. Calculating the figures by using methodology that estimates the effects of land clearing on wildlife in Australia, Dermot O’Gorman, chief executive officer of WWF Australia, said that loss of 1.25 billion animals include thousands of koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, gliders, potoroos, cockatoos and honeyeaters. "Many forests will take decades to recover and some species may have tipped over the brink of extinction. Until the fires subside, the full extent of damage will remain unknown," he stressed. Mentioning that […]