The wildfires that started in Australia in September have burnt more than 5 million hectares (12 million acres) of land and killed eight people. The wildlife has tremendously affected; experts estimate that 480 million animals could have died since fires started.?
Koalas in Australia are burning alive. Firefighters and volunteers are doing what they can to douse the fire and save the species.?
In what appeared to be a call for help, dehydrated and exhausted koala approached a passing cyclist- as heatwave and wildfires continue in Australia.?
Anna Heuseler was heading towards Adelaide on a day when the temperature was up to 40C when she and fellow cyclists noticed a koala in the middle of the road. The koala hurried over to the cyclist and drank thirstily from the bottle of water she offered. The koala climbed onto Anna¡¯s bike to gulp down the water.?
She shared the footage on Instagram with the caption, ¡®This koala walked right up to me as I was descending and climbed up onto my bike while I gave him water. The best thing to happen to me on a ride ever.¡¯ The video is now going viral.
Dehydrated koala approaches cyclist for help as Australian wildlife suffers in heatwave and fires. ¡®It walked right up to me ... and climbed up onto my bike while I gave him water,¡¯ says rider from r/environment
Talking to 7News Anna said it was common to spot koalas out in the bushland but she was taken by surprise at the particular koala¡¯s reaction.?
¡°We¡¯ve seen literally hundreds of koalas over the years [but] we have never seen a koala do this. We were descending from Norton Summit Road back into the city early this morning and we came around a bend and there was a koala sitting in the middle of the road. Naturally, we stopped because we were going to help relocate him off the road,¡± she was quoted as saying.?
She continued, ¡°I stopped on my bike and he walked right up to me, quite quickly for a koala, and as I was giving him a drink from all our water bottles, he actually climbed up onto my bike. None of us has ever seen anything like it.¡±
We hope that the fires are brought under control soon so that the wildlife could be tended to properly.?