A Koala bear rescued from a forest fire went viral after a short clip showed a woman saving a badly wounded, crying koala in New South Wales. Unfortunately, the rescue story didn’t have a happy ending. The innocent being was put to rest after it did not show any health improvement.
Lewis the Koala bear
The half-burnt Kola bear was brought to Port Macquarie Koala Hospital by Toni Doherty who found this creature crying and helpless in Australia bushfire. The animal was severely burned over much of his body, including his legs, feet, and chest. Doherty had named the koala Ellenborough Lewis after one of her seven grandchildren.
In a short video, Doherty is seen racing toward the koala, picking it up with her shirt. The koala was very badly hurt, with burns all over its body. Here is the video.
An Unfortunate end
On Tuesday, the hospital published a statement on its Facebook page announcing it had chosen to put Lewis to rest after his condition worsened.
“Today we made the decision to put Ellenborough Lewis to sleep. We placed him under general anesthesia this morning to assess his burns injuries and change the bandages. We recently posted that “burns injuries can get worse before they get better”. In Ellenborough Lewis’s case, the burns did get worse and unfortunately would not have gotten better. The Koala Hospital’s number one goal is animal welfare, so it was on those grounds that this decision was made. We thank you for your ongoing support,” said the post.
