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Tags: koala | mouth-to-mouth | saved | video

Koala Mouth-to-Mouth Rescue Saves Marsupial Hit by a Car (Video)

By    |   Friday, 22 August 2014 01:25 PM EDT

A koala in Australia was saved with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation after being hit by a car, and the rescue was caught on video.

The incident began when emergency crews in Melborne, Australia, received a call about an injured marsupial, ABC News Australia reported. When rescue workers approached to help the animal, they discovered it had climbed up a tall tree.

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A passerby originally found the koala injured Wednesday, and placed him on the tree, the Herald Sun reported. The next day, he was still in the tree. A healthy koala would have likely moved to another tree, so the passerby called the authorities.

Firefighters arrived and used a cherry picker to reach the koala. It then passed out and fell into the blankets rescue workers were holding up to catch him.

That's when they discovered that the koala was not breathing.

Langwarrin fire brigade captain Sean Curtin said that's when one of the rescue workers decided to give the koala mouth-to-mouth.

"Wildlife Victoria actually performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on the koala and one of the other members was actually pumping the koala's chest to get some movement in the heart and also get some air into the lungs at the same time," he told ABC. "We put it on O2 oxygen therapy to assist in getting some oxygen into the blood flow of the koala."

Going into her thought process, wildlife rescuer Michelle Thomas told the Herald Sun, "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. And then I gave him mouth-to-mouth, or mouth-to-nostril."

"With dogs you have to shut their mouths and breathe into their nostrils," she said. I figured it worked the same way. I wasn’t gonna lose a fairly healthy koala for this reason."

In no time, the rescuers had the koala, now called Sean after the fire brigade captain, all bundled up and ready for transport to the animal hospital. They tweeted out a picture showing him awake and attentive.


The Herald Sun said the koala was originally thought to be one known as Sir Chompsalot, but when rescuers discovered that was not the case, the young koala was called Sean.



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TheWire
A koala in Australia was saved with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation after being hit by a car, and the rescue was caught on video.
koala, mouth-to-mouth, saved, video
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2014-25-22
Friday, 22 August 2014 01:25 PM
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