Marley the koala being treated for burns
A koala found curled up under a burnt tree after bushfires on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula is fighting for its life in a rehabilitation centre.
Marley, the three-year-old female koala, has been flown to Adelaide where she is undergoing treatment at an animal rehabilitation centre on Torrens Island.
Vets say she has burns to her feet, which will require daily treatment and re-dressing for the next week.
They expect it will be at least another two months after that before she will be able to return to the wild.
They also suspect she lost her baby in the fire, because she was still producing milk, but wasn’t found with one.
Her savior came in the form of local man Clint Woods, who found her curled up under a tree yesterday morning after bushfires swept across the Eyre Peninsula over the weekend.
After stopping to give the koala a drink from his water bottle, Mr Woods called koala rescue services and stayed with Marley until they arrived to take care of the animal.
She was flown to Adelaide overnight to receive ongoing treatment for her injuries.
Meanwhile, 85 firefighters are still working on the Eyre Peninsula mopping up after the blaze, which blackened more than 1800 hectares, destroying 14 cabins at a caravan park, a house, and several vehicles.
