We recently posted about the horrifying situation in Australia, with bushfires killing almost half a billion animals, including 8,000 koalas. Experts have been debating regarding whether koalas are now 'functionally extinct', with many saying that the remaining wild animals are so few that they're unlikely to produce a new generation.
This is sad news for the adorable animal. However, there is always - and always should be - hope. And one can only feel hopeful in learning the story of an adorable baby koala, or koala joey, that will be released back into the wild after being rescued from the brink of death near the raging bushfires in Australia.
Keli the koala weighed less than ten ounces (275 grams) when he was found in New South Wales (NSW) on September 8, 2019, at that point he was in a desperate state, with most of his fur lost because of a fungal infection.
The baby was lying abandoned on the ground before being rescued and taken to the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital, that has been working around the clock since the fire crisis started to cope with the influx of severely injured koalas.
Now, the koala hospital is proudly releasing new images of Keli, showing his fantastic recovery.
The Australian bushfires have been raging since September 2019, laying waste to wildlife and private property alike as ecologists from the University of Sydney estimate, about 480 million mammals, birds, as well as reptiles have been killed directly or indirectly by the horrifying inferno that has been sweeping across Australia.
The number includes approximately 8,000 koala bears all of which burned to death in regions near the mid-north coast of this state, located about 240 miles north of Sydney.
As federal environment minister Sussan Ley told ABC radio, up to 30% of the koalas in the region had been killed, which is equivalent to the amount of their habitat that had been consumed by the fires. The official noted that she has been hard at work trying to establish corridors and plans to release hospitalized animals.
The Port Macquarie Koala Hospital is now a rallying point for those concerned about Australia's koala population. Since this crisis broke out, a GoFundMe page for the hospital named Help Thirsty Koalas Devastated by Recent Fires has received more than $1.6 million USD ($2.3 million AUD)—an all-time record regarding funds raised for an Australian entity.
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