Touching Scenes Of Koalas Cooling Off In River To Escape The Blaze

Amid the catastrophic bushfires in Australia, heartbreaking images and footages showing the magnitude of the disaster are emerging every day. Recently a series of powerful snaps are making waves on social media. Lorene McRae, a local woman captured the touching photos at the Murray River at Tocumwal, New South Wales.

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The heartwarming images show small groups of koalas desperately tying to avoid the heat of the bushfires. So they cool off in the waters of Murray River.

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"Amidst the horror and heartache of the suffering and death of our beautiful wildlife, I thought it might be nice to share a "feel good" story of hope," Lorene wrote in a Facebook post. "I was camped on the banks of the Murray River at Tocumwal… and was lucky enough to choose a spot where a colony of koalas lived."

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According to the woman touching scenes like this are happening frequently. "Each day they climbed down the river banks at dawn to sit and sleep on the damp logs, on the sand or in the root systems of the fallen trees. Occasionally they would back up and put their bottoms in the water and go back to sleep," she wrote. "At dusk they returned to the trees, and the process was repeated every day."

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The situation in Australia is dramatic as the latest reports estimate at least one billion animals have died in the bushfires. Unfortunately, koalas, the iconic Australian mammals are among the most affected animals by the disaster.

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At least 25,000 koala wiped out only on the Kangaroo Island. That's "probably more than half" of the island's koalas population, according to Sam Mitchell, co-owner at the Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park. Source:Dailymail