An officer from Wildlife Victoria has saved a koala's life by giving it mouth-to-mouth rescucitation after a dramatic rescue.
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The marsupial initially survived being hit by a car in Langwarrin last night and managed to climb up a large tree, where it became stuck.
CFA Langwarrin and Frankston fire brigades, together with a Wildlife Victoria officer, spent half an hour freeing the prone animal from a high branch, before it tumbled out of the tree and into the open arms of its rescuers below.
A Wildlife Victoria officer then revived the animal - whom they named "Sir Chompsalot" - using mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
Langwarrin & Frankston CFA have revived a koala hit by a car using CPR. Sir Chompsalot is recovering in Animal Hosp
pic.twitter.com/VQApgFme8e — Incident Alert-VicSA (@incident_alert)
August 21, 2014
The accident happened at the intersection of Cranbourne-Frankston Road and Kelvin Grove around 5.40pm. Wildlife Victoria received reports from a passerby that an ailing animal was lying beside the road.
Wildlife Victoria spokeswoman Amy Amato said it was not unusual for the koala to flee a tall tree after sustaining life-threatening injuries.
"This is generally what most animals will do. It's their instinct. When animals are injured, they can mask their injuries well and flee from their predators. The koala saw us as its predator," she said.
Sir Chompsalot is now recovering at the wildlife shelter, which is also the private home of the Wildlife Victoria officer who brought it back to life.
Langwarrin CFA captain Sean Curtin said the event was a little "out of the box" for the firefighters but was glad to hear the koala was "alive and well and eating. It's fantastic".
