Australia bushfires: Koalas have a new saviour in the form of a friendly, neighbourhood dog

Published: 
Reuters
Listen to this article

The marsupial population has been severely affected, and officials still don't know the lasting damage to their habitats

Reuters |
Published: 
Comment

Latest Articles

Climate change, urbanisation lead to early flowering of cherry blossom trees

Tatler to give fans 50% ticket refund for Messi’s Hong Kong no-show by May

An intense smell from a rare corpse flower attracts visitors in San Francisco

Hong Kong grocery chain DCH goes out of business after 39 years

Hong Kong logs coldest start to March since 2016

Icelandic peninsula sees fourth volcanic eruption since December

Taylor has been focusing on finding koalas since she was a few months old.

One of the hardest-working rescuers in Australia's bushfire crisis is four-year-old Taylor, an English springer spaniel.

When told: “Koala! Find!”, Taylor ventures into burned-out bushland, finding injured marsupials by sniffing out the scent of their fur or their faeces, also known as scat. Each time she finds a koala, she is rewarded with a tennis ball or culinary treat.

The fires have killed 29 people and razed bushland across an area the size of Bulgaria.

Australia’s koala population has also been severely affected. In New South Wales state alone, officials estimate 30 per cent of koala habitat - eucalpyt woodlands, which they use for both food and shelter - may have been lost.

A A$50 million (HK$268 million) emergency wildlife recovery programme launched by the federal government earlier this week will focus on the survival of the iconic native animal.

Taylor, meanwhile, has been focused on finding injured koalas since she was just a few months old and is now an expert.

Op-ed: Climate change is responsible for Australia's bushfire crisis

“In ideal conditions where the air is still, the smell of the animal actually drops down from the tree and Taylor can smell them, she’ll sit right below them and point up to them and show us where they are,” said trainer Ryan Tate.

He runs the Tate Animal Training Enterprises, which specialises in detector dog services.

“In high wind conditions or in difficult conditions, she’s also trained to find their scats and when she finds fresh scats, we can let the experts know where the scats are and they will scan the canopy and usually find the animal,” Tate said.

Help for animals injured in Australia 

The koalas’ heavy fur and tendency to climb higher when threatened are severe disadvantages in fast-moving bushfires.

Several of the koalas found by Taylor have been treated at Port Macquarie’s Koala Hospital, a specialist facility and tourist attraction that has been overrun in the current crisis.

Officials have said the full extent of the damage to the koala habitat will not be known until the fires are out, which is likely several months away.

Australian bushfires in pictures 

Sign up for the YP Teachers Newsletter
Get updates for teachers sent directly to your inbox
By registering, you agree to our T&C and Privacy Policy
Comment