The koala hides its muzzle in fur after seeing its dead friend in the river

The heartbreaking photo of the koala hiding its muzzle in fur after seeing its dead friend in the river in Australia.

Dead in a river, this is the sad fate of yet another koala victim of Australian fires. The rescuers found him, realizing that right next to him there was another one, a koala, intent on observing his friend and hiding his muzzle in the thick fur, as if he were crying.

Rescuers photographed him and the heartbreaking image, taken Wednesday on Kangaroo Island south of Adelaide, moved everyone.

Unfortunately on the floor of the charred forest of Kangaroo Island there are many similar corpses, all animals incinerated by the flames. The surviving koala mourning his friend's death was fortunately rescued by rescuers from Human Society International's Animal Rescue team, who went there to help wildlife after a third of the island was destroyed and about 80% of the koala's habitat has been wiped out.

The koala hides its muzzle in fur after seeing its dead friend in the river

Not only the koalas have suffered great losses, also the Kangaroo Island dunnart, already at risk of extinction before the fires and concentrated in the western area affected by the fires, and so the black cockatoo, the only endangered subspecies, object for two decades of conservation work to bring the numbers from a minimum of 150 in the 90s to 400.

Kelly Donithan told AFP that there are high chances of still dying of animals and this due to the destruction of their habitat:

"With the destruction of huge parts of the animals' habitats, the chances that many survive are fading by the day ... With each passing day, the animals are getting weaker and their organs are becoming more susceptible to irreparable damage."

The koala hides its muzzle in fur after seeing its dead friend in the river

Incidentally, Kangaroo Island is the only place in Australia where the population is completely devoid of chlamydia, a sexually transmitted infection also found in humans and fatal to koalas. Hence an important place for the survival of their species, which unfortunately suffered a lethal blow.

Meanwhile, according to AFP reports, Australian Environment Minister Sussan Ley said i koala may first be listed in danger of extinction. And unfortunately, even among those rescued, who are taken to a makeshift sanctuary in the Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park, some are in conditions that need to be euthanized. A tragic situation!