The devastating wildfire that ripped through the Tarcombe Wildlife Conservation Centre in Victoria’s high country on January 7, 2026, left behind a scene of heartbreaking destruction. Dr.

Robyn Coy, the 68-year-old founder who has devoted 32 years of her life to rescuing and rehabilitating injured and orphaned native animals, barely escaped with her life.

The blaze consumed nearly every enclosure, killed or fatally injured the vast majority of the 187 animals under her care, and reduced decades of painstaking work to charred ruins.

Yet, in the midst of this tragedy, small but meaningful signs of hope are beginning to emerge. As of this morning, January 10, Dr.

Coy’s condition and the situation at Tarcombe are showing cautious improvement—offering a fragile thread of light in what has been one of the darkest chapters of her extraordinary life.

When the fire front surged over the ridge line at terrifying speed just after 2:00 a.m., Robyn was alone on the 120-hectare property. She had spent the previous afternoon preparing the emergency concrete bunker, moving as many animals as possible into its reinforced safety.

But the flames, driven by 80 km/h winds through bone-dry eucalyptus forest, moved faster than any forecast predicted.

Robyn managed to release several animals from their enclosures in a desperate bid to give them a chance, then retreated into the bunker as the sky turned apocalyptic orange and embers fell like burning snow.

She remained trapped inside for nearly four hours while fire crews fought through fallen trees and extreme heat to reach her isolated location. When rescuers finally breached the shelter at first light, they found Dr. Coy alive but suffering from severe smoke inhalation, dehydration, and shock.

She was airlifted to a Melbourne hospital, where she spent the first 48 hours in intensive care.

As of this morning, however, medical staff report encouraging progress. Dr. Coy has been moved out of ICU to a general ward. Oxygen levels have stabilized, her lung function is steadily improving with treatment, and she is now able to speak in short sentences.

Doctors describe her recovery as “better than expected” for someone of her age exposed to such extreme conditions. While she remains weak and under close observation for potential long-term respiratory effects, the initial fear that she might not survive the night has receded.

“I’m still here,” she reportedly whispered to a close friend and volunteer who visited yesterday. “The animals… they’re gone, but I’m still here. That has to mean something.”

On the ground at Tarcombe, the news is equally bittersweet. Of the 187 animals present during the fire—koalas, wallabies, wombats, kangaroos, powerful owls, and many others—only seven have been confirmed alive.

Three of those survivors are receiving intensive veterinary care for severe burns and smoke damage at partner wildlife hospitals in Melbourne.

The other four—a resilient female koala named Bella, two young wallaby joeys, and a single surviving echidna—were found sheltering in natural rock crevices and damp gullies far from the main enclosures. Their survival is being hailed as nothing short of miraculous.

Volunteers and wildlife experts have begun the painstaking process of clearing debris, assessing structural damage, and searching for any additional survivors. While the majority of the centre’s infrastructure was destroyed, the concrete emergency bunker—Robyn’s post-2009 Black Saturday project—remained intact and is now serving as a temporary base for recovery operations.

Community response has been overwhelming. In just 72 hours, the Tarcombe Wildlife Conservation Centre Emergency Fund has raised more than $320,000.

Local farmers have offered temporary paddocks for any recovering animals, veterinary clinics have donated supplies and services, and wildlife rehabilitation groups from across Victoria and New South Wales have sent experienced carers to assist.

A GoFundMe page set up by long-time volunteer Sarah McAllister surpassed its initial $50,000 goal in under 12 hours and continues to climb.

Dr. Coy’s sister, Margaret, released a short family statement this morning: “Robyn is awake, talking, and asking about the animals and the volunteers. Her lungs are clearing, her spirit is unbroken.

She wants everyone to know that while the loss is unimaginable, she is grateful to be alive and already thinking about how to rebuild. The fight isn’t over.”

The broader context remains sobering. Australia’s wildlife continues to face escalating threats from more frequent and intense bushfires, driven by climate change. The Black Summer fires of 2019–2020 killed or displaced an estimated three billion animals.

Smaller, localized fires like the one that struck Tarcombe often receive less national attention, yet they inflict profound, personal devastation on the individuals and communities who dedicate their lives to conservation.

Centres like Tarcombe—quiet, volunteer-driven, chronically underfunded—are often the last hope for injured and orphaned wildlife. When they are lost, entire lifetimes of care vanish in hours.

Yet today, there is cautious optimism. Dr. Robyn Coy is breathing easier, her vital signs are strengthening, and the first tiny signs of life have been found amid the ashes. Volunteers have already begun planting native seedlings in scorched areas, symbolizing a commitment to renewal.

And across Australia, thousands of people who have never met Robyn are donating, sharing, and pledging to help her continue her life’s work.

In the words of one volunteer who helped search the property yesterday: “She saved so many lives over the years. Now it’s our turn to help save hers—and the legacy she built.”

The road ahead will be long and painful. Rebuilding will take years. The animals she loved and nursed back to health cannot be replaced. But Dr. Robyn Coy is still here. Her centre, though scarred, still stands in spirit.

And in the fragile green shoots pushing through blackened soil, in the slow recovery of a woman who refused to abandon hope even as the world burned around her, there is the faintest, most precious promise: life can return, even after the worst fire.

For donations and updates: Tarcombe Wildlife Conservation Centre Emergency Fund (official website or GoFundMe link).

Rest in peace to the lost ones. And to Dr. Coy—keep breathing. Australia is with you.