An icon of Australian wildlife is facing endangerment like never before after one of that country's worst summers of brushfires in a generation.
Animal researchers in Australia say more than 35,000 koalas, or 10% of their entire population, were killed or displaced after devastating wildfires earlier this year.
At her home in the western suburbs of Sydney, Tracey, a WIRES or Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service, volunteer looks after two rare koala joey twins and their mother Gladys, who were captured after urban development encroached on their habitat.
The two joeys that Tracey is looking after were underweight and in poor health when captured and needed attention to get them back to a healthy weight.
The agency "Science for Wildlife" uses advanced methods to track koala movements and monitor populations in bushfire affected areas, including a dog trained to follow the scent of their droppings.
