Quick-thinking rescuers saved a badly injured koala from dying, using mouth-to-mouth resuscitation-- and it was all caught on camera!
The koala, nicknamed Sean, was hit by a car Wednesday, then climbed to the top of a tree in a Melbourne suburb.
"This is generally what most animals will do. It's their instinct," said Amy Amato, a spokewoman with Wildlife Victoria. "When animals are injured, they can mask their injuries well and flee from their predators. The koala saw us as its predator."
The koala actually fell from the tree, but was caught by rescuers below holding blankets.
“I opened his mouth to see if I could feel or hear a breath, because I couldn’t see the rise and fall of his chest," said wildlife rescuer Michelle Thomas. "And then I gave him mouth-to-mouth, or mouth-to-nostril.”
Thomas said that with dogs, you have to close the mouth and breathe into the nostrils, and assumed it would be the same for koalas.
We're told "Sean" is now doing just fine.