Wildlife Background | Animals Australia

Australia is home to some incredible and unique wildlife. Many of us have experienced awe when watching kangaroos bounding effortlessly or heard the laughter of a kookaburra ring out across the bush.

But on the back of catastrophic bushfires, the large-scale destruction of habitats to make way for animal farming, and the ever-present risk of being shot and killed – the fate of these iconic animals hangs in the balance.

The good news is, helping to protect wildlife and ensuring their survival well into the future is something every person can do.

For our wildlife, we are both their greatest enemy and their only hope.

Bradley Trevor Grieve

Australian author

A kangaroo's paw on the hand of a person

How are wildlife under threat in Australia?

A closeup of joey looking out of the pouch of her mother

‘Recreational’ shooting

Australia’s wetlands are some of the most beautiful and peaceful places around the country. Yet each year they erupt into gunfire, slaughter and suffering — for the sake of ‘recreation’.

In Victoria, South Australia, the NT and Tasmania these wetlands are the site of an archaic ‘sport’ that leads to the suffering of hundreds of thousands of native waterbirds each year during recreational shooting seasons. It is time to convince the remaining governments that still permit this barbaric slaughter that aligning themselves with the shooting lobby is no longer accepted by the broader community – and is a recipe for election disaster, rather than election success. Head here to take action for our native wildlife.

A koala walking on the road during Australian bushfires

Credit: Jo-Anne McArthur

Habitat destruction

Across almost all categories of plants and animals, the leading cause of extinction is loss of habitat due to land clearing — and the vast majority of land clearing is to graze cattle for the beef and dairy industries, and to grow crops to feed farmed animals. Currently, almost one-third of the Earth’s surface is used for these purposes alone, with more forest land bulldozed every year.

For fish and other marine animals, the greatest extinction threat is exploitation, or in other words, fishing them to extinction.

The way we currently think about and produce ‘food’ is having a catastrophic impact on almost all plant and animal species worldwide.

If we act now, we can still turn things around. Eating plant-based foods is one of the simplest and most powerful ways to use our Earth’s resources more responsibly, and to protect wildlife in the process. It’s going to take all of us to turn this around. Get started with one of these tasty, plant-based recipes.

A kangaroo family standing in the field and looking towards camera.

An injured kangaroos because of australian bush fires

Credit: Jo-Anne McArthur

Commercial shooting

The slaughter of kangaroos is the largest land-based commercial wildlife massacre in the world. It’s also arguably the cruellest, with orphaned joeys either brutally killed by bludgeoning or left orphaned to die of predation, exposure or starvation.

Millions of this gentle iconic species are slaughtered annually so that their bodies can be sold as pet food, novelty ‘game’ meat, or exported to be used as leather for sports shoes.

In addition to the commercial industry, many thousands of kangaroos and wallabies and other species of wildlife are killed each year under State ‘permit’ systems. Discover how you can help protect wildlife from shooting here.

A photo of fire flames raging through forest in australia

The climate crisis

As the most devastating fires in history tore through much of the country during the 2019-2020 black summer, many Australians were confronted with the realisation that the climate crisis is not something that will happen ‘one day’ — but that it is happening right now. The Black Summer bushfires killed an estimated 3 billion wild animals and caused irreparable damage to delicate habitats, waterways and ecosystems. With extreme heat and weather events becoming more frequent, and more severe due to climate change, wildlife are under immediate and ongoing threat.

Australia is already a global leader in wildlife extinctions — and holds the grim record of being the first country to oversee a known mammalian extinction as a result of climate change: the Bramble Cay melomys. A recent report has revealed that koalas are facing extinction in New South Wales by 2050 due in part to climate change.

Find out how you can help protect wildlife and other animals from the climate crisis here.

A cute koala baby clinging with its mother on eucalyptus tree

How you can help

While the risks that wildlife face are vast, our capacity to help protect them is limitless. All it takes are simple acts, many of them starting at home. Here are some simple ways you can live kindly and help all those who call Australia home.

Protecting Australian wildlife.

Australian wildlife are unique and incredible, but their future is under threat. Discover how you can help protect them.