Kangaroo Island, which is just 12 kilome¬tres off the coast of South Australia and is home to several endemic species, such as the Kangaroo Island dunnart, was se¬verely devastated by the bushfires.

For those animals that survived, the bush¬fire deprived them of their natural cover, so they could easily fall victim to predators, especially feral cats. It was therefore impor¬tant to build fences, palings or enclosures around areas where great effort had been invested in eradicating these non-native species.

Tunnels that connect parts of unburnt vegetation also have an irreplace¬able role to play. They allow small animals to move through the landscape, seek new refuges and at the same time remain safe from predators.

Prague Zoo provided AU$ 95,000 for Kangaroo Island Land for Wildlife, an organisation that works on Kangaroo Island. These funds were mainly used to map the remaining un¬burnt habitats, assess the impact of bushfires on local endangered species populations (especially the Kangaroo Island dunnart, Kangaroo Island echidna, southern brown bandicoot, western Bassian thrush, Rosenberg’s monitor, and Kangaroo Island southern emuwren), and to protect them from in¬troduced predators.