Sam, koala rescued from fire, dies of urogenital chlamydiosis

It is with heavy heart that we report the death of Sam, the koala who became a symbol of hope this year for Australians imperiled by wildfires thanks to an iconic photograph that showed her taking a drink of water from a volunteer firefighter. 

Sam was taken to the Southern Ash Wildlife Shelter in Rawson, a town in southeastern Australia, to recover from second- and third-degree burns.  Her rescuers expected her to recover, and while at the shelter, she even befriended another injured koala named Bob.

But while Sam was recovering, her rescuers discovered that she was also suffering from another medical problem -- ovarian cysts related to a urogenital chlamydiosis infection. 

Sam underwent surgery Thursday to remove the cysts, but the surgery revealed that the disease had progressed to such an advanced stage that the cysts were inoperable and would have caused her great pain. Rather than prolong her suffering, a veterinary surgeon euthanized Sam; she never woke up from surgery.

Urogenital chlamydiosis affects more than half of Australia's koalas and is a leading killer of the species. "The loss of Sam makes it even more imperative that we establish a koala hospital to research diseases" affecting koalas in the state of Victoria, wildlife rescuer Colleen Wood wrote on the website set up to handle Sam's press and monetary donations to the Southern Ash shelter.

Your morning adorable: Keepers raise wallaby joey in Tokyo zoo

Wallaby joeys are very dependent on their mothers and, of course, spend a lot of time in their pouches.  So when a wallaby mother at Tokyo's Edogawa Natural Zoo neglected her baby, keepers took over parental duties themselves.

Now, the joey is the constant companion of the zoo's staff, often nesting in a simulated pouch, and even occasionally pitching in with supervising clerical tasks.  More photos after the jump!

Your morning adorable: New koala in town at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo

The newest resident at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is Bulkee, a 5-year-old koala imported from the ZooParc de Beauval in France.  Bulkee, the zoo hopes, will be an asset to its already-successful koala conservation and breeding program.

"From what we've seen so far, he seems to be a good match for our female koalas," Steve Taylor, the zoo's director, said in a statement.  The two females, Colliet and Midgee, have given birth to a combined total of 12 koala babies over the last 10 years.

To keep the koalas in fresh eucalyptus, the zoo will spend about $90,000 this year to have 17 varieties of the plant shipped in from Arizona and Florida, the Plain Dealer reports.

-- Lindsay Barnett

Video: Cleveland.com

'High' wallabies accused of making crop circles after eating poppies in Tasmania

Poppy growners in the Australian state of Tasmania have long wondered about a strange phenomenon. The crop circles that have been known to, well, crop up in poppy fields have even inspired legends, the Mercury of Hobart, Tasmania, reports. Like crop circles elsewhere in the world, the poppy circles were mysterious, but no answers were forthcoming. 

Mystery solved ... maybe. 

Tasmania supplies about half of the world's legally-produced opium, which is made from poppies and used to make painkillers like morphine. But, of course, it's important to safeguard the plant, which is used not only in legal painkillers, but also to produce heroin. 

Security for the poppy plants was the subject of discussion at a recent parliamentary hearing, which took an unexpected turn when Lara Giddings, attorney general of Tasmania, spoke of a strange discovery.

"The one interesting bit that I found recently in one of my briefs on the poppy industry was that we have a problem with wallabies entering poppy fields, getting as high as a kite and going around in circles," Giddings told those assembled. "Then they crash. We see crop circles in the poppy industry from wallabies that are high."

So ... high wallabies hopping in circles cause the crop-circle phenomenon? Not everyone believes the story, but other animals -- deer and sheep, for example -- have been known to enjoy the poppy plant and act strangely afterward.

Suspect arrested in arrow attacks on kangaroos near Melbourne

Australian authorities have made an arrest in the case of two eastern grey kangaroos found shot with arrows in Bundoora, a suburb of Melbourne, earlier this month.  The suspect, a 27-year-old man whose name has not been released, was charged with four counts of aggravated cruelty and "reckless conduct endangering life," according to the Herald Sun. 

Authorities found a small arsenal of bows, arrows, and other related items during a search of the man's home.  He reportedly told police that he didn't know kangaroos were a protected animal. He was released on bail and is scheduled to appear in court June 25.

The first injured kangaroo found was named Beau by rescuers; he's shown at right as rescuers worked to save him after finding him with an arrow through his face.  Veterinary surgeon Dr. Michael Lynch of the Melbourne Zoo performed surgery to remove the arrow. 

Another kangaroo, a female dubbed Hope by rescuers, underwent surgery to remove an arrow from her rear.  Her wound later became infected, but both animals are expected to recover. Beau and Hope are now recuperating at the Chum Creek Wildlife Shelter, where they'll remain for a few weeks before they're taken to the Melbourne Zoo for X-rays.  If all goes well, the next step will be to re-release them into the wild.

"They have come to depend on each other, so they will stay here, and when they are both fit, they will be released together," Belinda Gales of the Chum Creek shelter told the Herald Sun.  "We don't know where they will go yet, but the main thing is that they go into a safe environment."

RELATED:
Australian court stops kangaroo cull near Canberra, at least temporarily
Joeys are decapitated, clubbed as byproduct of commercial kangaroo hunting industry

--Lindsay Barnett

Photo: Gal Shivtiel / AFP/Getty Images

Australian court stops kangaroo cull near Canberra, at least temporarily

Australia's kangaroos have gotten a reprieve -- at least for the time being. Seven thousand of the 9,000 kangaroos living on defense department land in the Australian Capital Territory were slated for death based upon the assertion that they were harming native grasslands. 

Animal welfare groups disagreed and made their case to an Australian appeals court, which agreed that the killings should cease until a full review is conducted.  About 4,000 kangaroos have already been killed by civilian contractors working for the defense department.  Kangaroo advocates are calling the court's ruling a big victory, as Australia's ABC News reports:

Animal Liberation's lawyer Malcolm Caufield says the Tribunal's ruling sets a precedent and sends a strong message to the ACT Government.

"It gives right to a public interest group that cares about the rights of animals to do something if the Government is acting illegally," he said.

Australian Society for Kangaroos spokeswoman Nikki Sutterby says it is a significant win.

"It's a fantastic victory for kangaroos because for the first time a judge has made the decision on this instead of the Government," she said.

But some government officials are outraged -- Australian Capital Territory Chief Minister Jon Stanhope has said that Canberra's local government may even enact new legislation to prevent courts from intervening in future kangaroo culls. 

Kangaroo recovering after being shot through the head with an arrow

An eastern grey kangaroo found shot through the head with an arrow last Thursday has earned a guardedly optimistic prognosis, thanks to the work of veterinary surgeon Dr. Michael Lynch of the Melbourne Zoo. 

Dr. Lynch operated Saturday to remove the arrow and will monitor the male kangaroo, now called Beau, for the next few weeks.  Both close monitoring and a course of antibiotics are necessary to ensure he doesn't fall victim to infection, a serious concern since the arrow penetrated his nasal cavity.  The Australian Associated Press reports:

"This was a big injury, but because the arrow didn't seem to have been in there for a long time, and the injury was fresh, hopefully he'll be okay," Dr Lynch said.  ...

Wildlife Victoria has offered a $10,000 reward [about $7,670 U.S.] to catch the person responsible. Wildlife Victoria media coordinator Fiona Corke said she couldn't believe anyone could be so cruel.

"It must be a very cold-hearted person to do that," she said.

Police received a report of two men shooting at kangaroos with crossbows in the Australian city of Bundoora; the men have not been caught and it's unclear if they are responsible for the shooting of this particular kangaroo. 

-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: Beau recovering after surgery.  Credit: AFP/Getty Images.

Your morning adorable: Orphaned kangaroo joeys get a helping hand in Australia

These kangaroo joeys, rescued from the recent bushfires in Australia, are lucky -- they're getting great care from wildlife rehabilitator Annie Williams.  (They'd be unable to survive in the wild without their mothers.)

Sadly, many other Australian joeys aren't so lucky -- many parts of the country permit commercial kangaroo hunting.  While adults are the hunters' targets, the government mandates the killing (by methods we're sickened to think about) of the joeys orphaned when their mothers are killed by hunters.  The rationale, according to government-issued statements, is that the alternative to dispatching the joeys would be to allow them to die of starvation, dehydration or predation. 

Animal welfare advocates disagree, pointing to joeys like these as evidence that the babies can survive with help from caring people.  An organization called the Australian Society for Kangaroos has taken up the cause (and its website lists ways to help). 

More photos of these guys after the jump!

Joeys are decapitated, clubbed as byproduct of commercial kangaroo hunting industry

A spokesperson for the Australian Society for Kangaroos estimates that hundreds of thousands of kangaroo joeys are killed -- many by decapitation or clubbing -- each year as a result of commercial kangaroo hunting in Australia.  And with a large portion of the state of New South Wales being opened up to commercial hunting, Australian animal advocates fear it's about to get worse.

"Shooters will be able to kill 150,000 kangaroos in the Central West -- say a third are females and of them, say, half have a joey, that's 25,000 joeys decapitated, bashed or shot each year," Nikki Sutterby of the kangaroo protection group told Australia's Daily Telegraph. 

Australia's federal government and the regional New South Wales government have rejected alternate methods to decapitation, clubbing or shooting, the recommended means of dispatching the orphaned joeys that are left behind when their mothers are killed by commercial hunters. 

Hairless joeys found in their mothers' pouches must be decapitated or bludgeoned to death, the Daily Telegraph reports.  Older joeys are to be bludgeoned or shot. 

Rejected kangaroo joey inspires international cooperation

Kangaroo joey Tijana, a resident of the Belgrade Zoo, is getting some TLC from her keepers -- and the international community -- after being rejected by her mother.

The mother kangaroo, apparently not a fan of giant flightless birds, was startled by an emu while carrying the joey in her pouch. Tijana fell out of the pouch and her mother refused to accept her back. Enter the Australian Embassy in Serbia, which arranged to have special milk delivered for the baby. 

Milk donations also arrived from the U.S. and Germany, the BBC reports.  And keepers from the U.S., Australia, Germany, the Czech Republic and Belgium offered much-needed advice to the Belgrade Zoo staff. "Without them, she wouldn't be alive," keeper Mainga Hamadahamane told the Canadian Press.

Tijana will be fed a diet of milk and kept in an incubator for the next several months.  See video of the baby kangaroo at the Guardian.

-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: Srdjan Ilic / Associated Press