Healing koalas
With so many horrific images of charred koalas now filed away in the recesses of memory, for those of us lucky to go unscathed, the Smithsonian takes stock of still-decimated koala habitat in Australia’s Kangaroo Island. The piece is about koala rescue missions, but it’s filled with trauma that has gotten less notice as the pandemic has dominated U.S. headlines. Smithsonian Magazine writes:
For people desperate to help in the aftermath of the fires, rescuing and treating injured koalas and relocating koalas stranded in devastated forest areas has become a kind of humane religion, something to cling to and thus avoid descending into despair. Each and every rescue becomes a small but holy and tangible act to stem the wider suffering.
There’s hope, too.
