Bear the Dog has been branded a good boy after his efforts to track down injured koalas that have survived raging bushfires in Australia have gone viral.
As Bear’s handlers at Detection Dogs for Conservation revealed, Bear was trained to detect koalas and has been deployed to Cooroibah near Noosa, Queensland, in order to track down and save the lives of as many koalas as possible.
“A dog’s sense of smell is up to 10,000 times stronger than that of humans. We train formerly-sheltered, highly-active dogs-who may otherwise never be adopted-to sniff out koala scat and fur,” International Fund for Animal Welfare Australia, the organization that owns Bear, explained.
“By locating the scat, and in some cases the koalas themselves, we can collect data about the genetics and health of the local koala population. We can also use this data to protect individual animals and conserve ecosystems.”
Besides Bear and his handlers, there are also others who are giving it their best shot to treat koalas injured in the bushfires.
One such couple are Paul and Christeen McLeod who turned their house into a makeshift pet clinic and opened their doors to koalas that got burned in wildfires.
The couple, who runs a business called Koalas In Care, is located in Taree, New South Wales, and they are currently taking care of over 20 koalas.
From disinfecting the animals’ wounds to moisturizing their burnt skin, the husband and wife agreed they had to do something to make a change in koalas’ lives because they’re typically forgotten about when it comes to forest fires.
“Somebody has to look after them because nobody else is doing too much, as far as the government, in protecting them,” Christeen said in an interview with ABC News.
“We have a number of koalas in care. And it’s a scary scenario, but that may well be the only insurance policy koalas have for the area here.”
According to Koala Conservation Australia, the charity estimates that over 300 koalas have died in pain during recent bushfires.
“We think most of the animals were incinerated. It’s like a cremation. They have been burnt to ashes in the trees,” Sue Ashton, KCA’s president, revealed in an interview with Sydney Morning Herald.
If you wish to support the kind couple’s purpose you can get in contact with them or make a donation at koalasincare.org and Facebook.
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