The severe Australian bushfires in Queensland and New South Wales, which are said to be one of the worst cases on record, caused devastation to many animals’ homes, particularly Koalas.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare, working hand in hand with the University of Sunshine Coast’s Detection Dogs for Conservation team in Queensland, did their part in rescuing them. Bear is one of the dogs in the team.
A five-year-old dog named Bear underwent intense training to use his sense of smell to locate the koalas in the affected areas after USC detected them using drones with thermal cameras to track their location. Since November 2019, he reportedly rescued 100 injured koalas, which is still increasing.
Team member Romane Cristescu said that Bear is just one of the many dogs they worked with in similar situations and that he never doubted his abilities. He added that the rescue operation might be challenging to manage, but Bear appreciates what he does and sees it like he’s playing.
He then included that the main goal was to rescue the most animals they could, even though some may find it challenging to search for food and experience starvation, but with Bear’s helping hand. They can redeem all of them and then discharge them back into the wild, for that’s where their food is.
Despite the misfortune, Bear promoted hope to the team as he continued to help from September 2019 to March 2020.
With these, they gained so much faith that the koalas’ species will still thrive in the future, with the Australian government’s help supporting their environmental and wildlife groups for 50 million USD.
The IFAW and USC are now in progress with their research about how resilient the species are, hoping they can come up with something to help more koalas survive the next fire season.
Source: NDTV