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Australian Superdog receives his due after saving koalas after Black Summer wildfires

ByDomenic Marinelli|
PORT MACQUARIE, AUSTRALIA - SEPTEMBER 14: A young male koala named 'Jan' is seen in a outdoor koala pen at Port Macquarie Koala Hospital on September 14, 2020, in Port Macquarie, Australia. Established in 1973 the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital has 150 volunteers, a specialised treatment room, intensive care unit and rehabilitation yards. The team were instrumental in treating bushfire affected koalas during what has become known as Australia's Black Summer, however, more common treatments are given for road accident trauma, dog attacks and disease, such as Chlamydia. A New South Wales parliamentary inquiry released in June 2020 has found that koalas will become extinct in the state before 2050 without urgent government intervention. Making 42 recommendations, the inquiry found that climate change is compounding the severity and impact of other threats, such as drought and bushfire, which is drastically impacting koala populations by affecting the quality of their food and habitat. The plight of the koala received global attention in the wake of Australia's devastating bushfire season which saw tens of thousands of animals killed around the country. While recent fires compounded the koala's loss of habitat, the future of the species in NSW is also threatened by continued logging, mining, land clearing, and urban development. Along with advising agencies work together to create a standard method for surveying koala populations, the inquiry also recommended setting aside protected habitat, the ruling out of further opening up of old-growth state forest for logging and the establishment of a well-resourced network of wildlife hospitals in key areas of the state staffed by suitably qualified personnel and veterinarians. The NSW Government has committed to a $44.7 million koala strategy, the largest financial commitment to protecting koalas in the state's history. (Photo by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)
PORT MACQUARIE, AUSTRALIA - SEPTEMBER 14: A young male koala named 'Jan' is seen in a outdoor koala pen at Port Macquarie Koala Hospital on September 14, 2020, in Port Macquarie, Australia. Established in 1973 the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital has 150 volunteers, a specialised treatment room, intensive care unit and rehabilitation yards. The team were instrumental in treating bushfire affected koalas during what has become known as Australia's Black Summer, however, more common treatments are given for road accident trauma, dog attacks and disease, such as Chlamydia. A New South Wales parliamentary inquiry released in June 2020 has found that koalas will become extinct in the state before 2050 without urgent government intervention. Making 42 recommendations, the inquiry found that climate change is compounding the severity and impact of other threats, such as drought and bushfire, which is drastically impacting koala populations by affecting the quality of their food and habitat. The plight of the koala received global attention in the wake of Australia's devastating bushfire season which saw tens of thousands of animals killed around the country. While recent fires compounded the koala's loss of habitat, the future of the species in NSW is also threatened by continued logging, mining, land clearing, and urban development. Along with advising agencies work together to create a standard method for surveying koala populations, the inquiry also recommended setting aside protected habitat, the ruling out of further opening up of old-growth state forest for logging and the establishment of a well-resourced network of wildlife hospitals in key areas of the state staffed by suitably qualified personnel and veterinarians. The NSW Government has committed to a $44.7 million koala strategy, the largest financial commitment to protecting koalas in the state's history. (Photo by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)

The Black Summer Wildfires were a devastating occurrence that spread a horrific terror on the wildlife in Australia throughout the 2019 and 2020 period. Well, despite the devastation many heroes came forward to help, one of them a courageous dog, who finally just received his due after his work in saving koalas, and a massive amount of them at that.

No moisture in the soil of a forested area, a massive one, and extremely dry and hot conditions are the perfect environment for a fire such as this one to unfortunately thrive and build. This occurred in the above period specified, and the devastation was indeed huge.

Despite the fact that Queensland Fire and Emergency Service sent out warnings of the possible oncoming fire and the incredible possible scope of the damage back in 2019, there was nothing that could be done to stop the coming tragedy unfortunately. Essentially it was too huge. By the time that the fire really got under way, the devastation reached a burning ground of 35 million acres, according to records.

Dog honored for his work rescuing koalas

The damage reached the animal kingdom present in the region, which wasn’t contained to only one area of Australia evidently, doing a lot of damage to many species and actually wiping out some endangered species as well, according to Wikipedia. It ended up costing upwards of $4 billion to deal with the fires, according to that same source.

Areas affected included: North Coast, South Wales, Hunter, Sydney, Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury, The South Coast and even the Southern Highlands and even Riverina and the Snowy Mountains, among many others. Firefighters, health care workers, even volunteers and many other service and rescue oriented operatives did their best to help during this horrible time, and like stated above, so did one dog in particular.

And it was an adorable Australian Koolie known as Bear that ended up saving 100 koala bears during the search and rescue attempts.

As it turns out, The International Fund for Animal Welfare or the IFAW, gave this six year old pup his due recently when they awarded him with honors for the epic work he did in saving so many koala lives, according to a piece published at middleastfood.xyz.

The award was given to Bear at the Animal Action Awards from Sunshine Coast University. Dr. Romane Cristescu of the university, presented the hero pup with the honors over a satellite connection or rather video feed. Here’s some of what Cristescu had to say about Bear and the honors given him:

"“We believe Bear deserves to get this honor….He’s been a terrific person, helping us identify and preserve a lot of koalas, especially during the wildfires, but he works all year to assist our efforts to offer a better and safer habitat for koalas…Bear and our team are cooperatively exploring the impacts of the 2019-20 wildfires on the health and habitat density of koalas…”(link above)"

By the way, the work is never over for Bear, a workaholic himself, he still works with rescue teams to this day, and for a plethora of other reasons. Kudos to Bear and all the people who tried to help during that trying time for the beautiful area affected by the fires.

The planet is indeed changing dear readers. We need to listen to these warnings of climate change and do our part to help these animals and these rescue teams dedicated to cleaning up the messes that occur because of humanity’s refusal to listen to the signs and the warnings.

Any other hero pets you know of, dear readers?

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