Koalas were already on the brink in Australia. Bushfires have killed 1,000 in 2 months, experts say

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Koalas were already on the brink in Australia. Bushfires have killed 1,000 in 2 months, experts say

26 November 2019
News
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.”