As tinderbox conditions continue to hamper wildlife assessment and rescue efforts, bushfires in Victoria have burned habitat crucial to bird and animal species, including eastern bristlebirds and dingoes. The state’s population numbered fewer than 200 birds, and any that survived the flames would now be exposed, Driscoll said. Wildlife Victoria said there was likely to have been a substantive loss of animals given the ferocity and scale of the fires. Elements of the natural landscape were already being lost as fires burned, and then burned again, he said. “We shouldn’t be surprised when a fire happens and some of these ecosystems start collapsing.”