Australian police hunt koala shooters

Yahoo News 20 Jan 10;

SYDNEY (AFP) – Australian police said Wednesday they were investigating the shooting of koalas in two separates incidents, including one involving a baby animal which was repeatedly hit.

Police in the southern state of Victoria are looking for a group of men who allegedly killed one of the marsupials late Tuesday as a passer-by watched.

"The witness told police she saw three men from a late model, dark blue 4x4 utility shooting up a tree before seeing the animal fall to the ground," a statement from Victoria Police said.

"It is believed they fired another two shots as the koala lay there."

In the second incident, a mother and baby koala were found with injuries inflicted by a slug gun north of the east coast city of Brisbane on Tuesday.

The baby, which has been named Doug after one of his rescuers, has two pellets lodged in his abdomen and ribs and will face surgery on Friday.

His mother has already had one slug removed and is expected to make a full recovery.

Conservationists fear koalas, once hunted for their thick fur, could become extinct within decades as a result of disease and loss of habitat due to development and climate change.