Hot, dry weather and strong winds are fuelling raging forest fires in Australia, and threatening slow-moving koalas who call the bush their home.
The animals are at risk of dying from burns and dehydration, and rescued koalas often suffer from badly burned paws.
In response, the International Fund for Animal Welfare put out a call to volunteers asking them to help sew mittens to help protect injured koala paws. The organization provided a pattern for the small mittens and, days later, tweeted to say they were “blown away” by the response.
“Rescuers now have all they need for the rest of the dry season,” the tweet read.
As the organization is now well-stocked with mittens sent from countries around the world, including Canada, it now hopes would-be donors consider giving money instead.
Once the fires have died down and the koalas have healed, most of the rescued marsupials should be able to return to the wild.
