Woman risks her life to save koala from wildfire in Australia

A video went viral in which an absolute hero can be seen risking her life to save a Koala from a raging bushfire near Port Macquarie in New South Wales, Australia. Koalas are an iconic Aussie animal but these bushfires have devastated the local koala population, but this brave lady has taken it upon herself to ensure that the region does not lose one more.

Koala injured from burns

In the footage, the koala can be clearly seen injured from burns to its body, stumbling across the road in Long Flat, west of Port Macquarie and back into bushland under threat. A local of South Wales called Toni immediately leapt to the animal's rescue and rushed into the hazardous fire zone in order to save the helpless animal. She even took off her top in a bid to shield the animal while exposing her own skin to the flames. She doused the koala in water before covering it up in an attempt to shield it and then provides it with some water to drink.

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Toni then took the injured animal to the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital - which is already treating more than a dozen animals.
While Toni's quick thinking in this case undoubtedly saved the life of the animal, unfortunatey the same can not be said for the hundreds of koalas that have been incinerated by the relentless bushfires. According to the Koala Conservation Australia president Sue Ashton, the fires are of such a high intensity that most of the animals have been incinerated. She further added that it was like a cremation like there were so signs of the animals left. While estimates vary at the moment but experts reckon there are as many as 350 dead koalas in the area. The teams sent into an area where the fire danger is low to assess the situation and have been aided by Bear the Koala Detection Dog.

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This particular dog has been trained to detect koalas and they hope that Bear's heightened senses will be able to find any Koalas that manage to live through the Inferno.

Koala Lewis

The Port Macquarie Koala Hospital, where Toni took the Koala she rescued, have named the koala Lewis and they estimate that he is around 14 years old. Two fundraisers have been set up to see how much money as possible go towards helping one of Australia's most legendary animals. The first has a goal of $1 million and hopes to set up a new breeding facility to get this koala community back on its feet. The second campaign has already managed to rack up an impressive $860,000 in donations since it started.