Queensland police are continuing investigations into a shooting attack on a baby koala after it was found riddled with pellets beside its dead mother.
The tiny animal, nicknamed Frodo, received a fractured skull, and gun pellets were found scattered throughout her body, damaging her intestines.
The shooting took place on the Sunshine Coast, north of Brisbane, Australia, and although the mother was killed, vets are doing all they can to save her baby.
Vets at the zoo said it was touch and go whether Frodo, who was blasted from a tree with a shotgun, will survive.
Stomach and intestinal perforations have been repaired and three pellets removed, including from the skull, but a further 12 remain.
'She's in a critical condition, but if she can be stabilised she will undergo further surgery to remove pellets and repair damage,' said vet Amber Gillett.
Miss Gillett said Frodo was receiving intravenous antibiotics, fluids and pain relief, as well as blood transfusions.
'We are stunned to see this kind of animal cruelty and cannot begin to fathom why somebody would want to shoot a koala that poses no threat to them,' she added.
Mark Townend, a senior officer with the RSPCA, said his organisation would provide any help needed to search for the culprit and bring cruelty charges.
Outraged Australians have called for the person who shot the koalas to receive the same punishment.
Koalas were declared a protected species in the 1930s, after their numbers fell dramatically due to the fur trade.
Scores of people sent their good wishes to Frodo, saying they hoped she would pull through.
Frodo remains in a critical condition at a wildlife hospital on the Sunshine Coast.
The maximum penalty for shooting a koala is a $225,000 (£140,000) fine or two years in jail.
1 comment:
Hope that Frodo pulled through. Did they find out who did this? They should be shot with as many bullets as left thier gun. Treatment of an eye for an eye. A bullet for a bullet.
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