The Wider Image: From disease to bushfires, Australia's iconic koalas face bleak future
Research scientist Dr. Victoria Inman and Dr. Kellie Leigh, the executive director of the not-for-profit conservation organisation Science for Wildlife, release a koala named Pele and her joey back into the wild, after a team from Science for Wildlife, briefly captured them in order to conduct maintenance on Pele's radio collar and assess her and the joey's health, as part of The Blue Mountains Koala Project, a population monitoring program spearheaded to plan for koala recovery in the region, in Kanangra-Boyd National Park, the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, near Jenolan, Australia, September 15, 2020. Science for Wildlife uses advanced methods to track koala movements and monitor populations in bushfire affected areas. "At some of our sites, the forests are really tall, the canopies really thick, so you can't necessarily find koalas just by looking up," Leigh said. REUTERS/Loren Elliott SEARCH "KOALAS ELLIOTT" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES