Koalas Were Already on the Brink in Australia. Bushfires Have Killed 1,000 in 2 Months, Experts Say

A koala that had received global attention after dramatic video footage emerged of its rescue from Australia’s bushfires by a woman who wrapped it in her shirt has died after suffering extensive burns. Video footage released on Nov. 19 showed the koala, later named Ellenborough Lewis, as it was rescued by Toni Doherty who plucked him from a tree in New South Wales. Doherty took the koala to the Koala Hospital in Port Macquarie but the hospital were unable to save him and put him to sleep today as a result of his severe burns. “In Ellenborough Lewis’s case, the burns did get worse, and unfortunately would not have gotten better,” the hospital said in a statement. “The Koala Hospital’s number one goal is animal welfare, so it was on those grounds that this decision was made.” The death comes after Deborah Tabert, chairman of the Australian Koala Foundation, last week estimated that over 1,000 koalas have perished in the fires ravaging the country in the last two months. Tabert fears that the fires, which have devastated large areas of Australia since Oct. 20, have drastically impacted the already threatened Koala population and their habitat. Initially wildlife charities estimated that 350 koalas had been killed in the bushfires in New South Wales and Queensland, but Tabart has argued that the figure is much higher. “If we combine all of the estimated deaths of koalas in the bushfires, there could be 1000 koalas that have been...
Source: TIME: Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Australia Bushfire onetime Source Type: news