• Australia: In the hospital of the 31 'baptized' koalas and the brave woman who rescued Lewis from the fire
  • Video: This was Lewis's rescue

The Koala, whose rescue during the fierce fires that devastate Australia went viral, was sacrificed on Tuesday by not recovering from the wounds caused by the fire, the animal organization responsible for its care reported.

"Today we made the decision to put Lewis to sleep , " as the animal was named, the Koalas Hospital in Port Macquarie, in the eastern state of New South Wales, said on Facebook.

The marsupial, called Lewis, was treated for days in the clinic for burns caused by the flames in various parts of the body .

However, during a review on Tuesday to assess wounds and change bandages, veterinarians felt that the animal had not improved from its injuries.

"The main objective of the hospital is animal welfare, so we made the decision" to euthanize the koala , the center said.

The video of the koala, rescued while fleeing the flames on a road next to a forest, provoked a barrage of messages of solidarity and donations from Australians to the drama of the images.

His rescuer stayed in a bra to wind the animal with his sweater and sprayed him with water on his scorched hair while the koala gave screams of pain .

There are no official figures, but experts believe that the number of koalas killed during the current fires can exceed one thousand , out of a total population of around 80,000 specimens.

These marsupials, endemic to Australia, are already threatened by urban development and chlamydia , a bacterial disease that causes blindness, infertility and in some cases death.

The fires, which have killed six people and burned 500 homes and 13,000 square kilometers since last July 1, have been related to the climate crisis, despite the fact that the government, a coal defender, tries to avoid the debate.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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