The bushfires are still raging in Australia, and the famous Irwins—family of the late crocodile hunter Steve Irwin—are also doing their part to curb the extent of devastation.

Koalas have little chance of survival

The Irwins, comprising of mother Terri Irwin, son Robert Irwin and daughter Bindi Irwin, run Australia Zoo in Queensland.

The zoo has been nursing hundreds of animals injured by the massive bushfires spreading over the continent since August 2019.

These include the country's iconic koalas, kangaroos and possums.

Clearly, the Irwins are also heartbroken by the damage and loss of life, as evident from their interview on Sunrise, an Australian morning news program.

A short clip of the interview, featuring Robert and Terri Irwin, was posted to Twitter.

In it, the 16-year-old Irwin can be seen looking slightly distressed as his mother explains the impact of the fires on native koalas.

When asked how they feel about the future of Australia's koala population, the elder Irwin shares how koalas, who are not as mobile as other animals like kangaroos, are particularly vulnerable to the fires.

"Koala instinct is to go up, as safety is in the top of the tree. Eucalyptus trees have so much oil that they ignite and actually explode in a fire."

Koalas that survive are therefore few and far between, she added, as they are basically "incinerated".

Throughout the clip, the younger Irwin remains silent, often looking to his mother for support.

And it almost seems as if he is holding back tears.

You can watch the short clip here.

"Being able to treat and help koalas is few and far between because they're basically incinerated"

Terri Irwin chats about the devastating impact of Australia's bushfires on our vulnerable koala population.

More on this story: https://t.co/Im1bLS9oZj pic.twitter.com/9a5EqQlivR

— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) January 5, 2020

Koalas might have to be classified as endangered now

Thus far, an estimated one billion animals have been killed by the fires, according to ecologists and environmental scientists.

The younger Irwin told Sunrise that they were seeing various kinds of injuries at their wildlife hospital, such as smoke inhalation and burns.

Additionally, animals were fleeing into dangerous areas which could lead to human-wildlife conflict—some were hit by cars and other attacked by domestic animals, in what the young Irwin described as a "knock-on effect".

Currently, most of Australia's animals including koalas, kangaroos and platypuses are endemic. This means the species cannot be found anywhere else.

The elder Irwin shared during the interview that koalas are already classified as vulnerable.

"I think after this event, we need to really sit down and look at classing them as endangered and protecting our icons," she said.

Top photo from @sunriseon7 / Twitter