Lewis, the koala that was rescued from a brushfire by a bystander in Australia, has died at the koala hospital that was caring for him.
“Today we made the decision to put Ellenborough Lewis to sleep. We placed him under general anaesthesia 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, Koala Hospital Port Macquarie shared on Facebook. “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.”
Lewis was too badly burned to go back into the wild so the plan was to have him join a breeding program once he became healthy enough. He was named after one of his rescuer’s grandchildren.
Koalas injured in brushfires continue to be an issue in Australia as the hospital has seen 14 koalas with burns in the month of November alone.