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Heartbreaking moment koala howls as he mourns his mate and hugs her body after she died at the foot of a tree
Heartbreaking footage has emerged of a koala appearing to mourn the death of his female companion.
South Australia's Koala Rescue Inc received from a 'most concerned' member of the public after they stumbled across two distressed koalas at the base of a tree.
Hartley, the rescuer on call, travelled to Coromandel Valley, south east of Adelaide, to help the pair but soon discovered one of the koalas had died.
Footage shared to the volunteer group's Facebook page on Friday showed an adult male koala huddled over and hugging the body of a dead female koala.
A rescuer from South Australia 's Koala Rescue Inc found a male koala huddled over the body of a dead female koala at the base of a tree in the Coromandel Valley, south east of Adelaide
The heartbreaking video was shared to the volunteer group's Facebook page, with many social media users claiming the footage brought them to tears
'(We) received a call from a most concerned member of the public, who reported that they had found a koala on the ground at the base of a tree,' the caption read.
'However, there was also a second koala involved. On arrival the rescuer located both a deceased adult female koala and a second adult male koala.
'It is always devastating to attend a rescue involving a deceased koala, but it was even more heartbreaking to witness the male koala actually holding and hugging the deceased koala.'
Koala Rescue Inc explained the behaviour had never been witnessed by the rescuers before and said it gave a rare insight into the true nature of the Australian animals.
'It is always devastating to attend a rescue involving a deceased koala, but it was even more heartbreaking to witness the male koala actually holding and hugging the deceased koala.'
'This type of behaviour is rarely witnessed by our rescuers, but confirms the empathetic and caring nature of koalas,' it said.
'This male koala's reaction to death, really does represent the truly beautiful nature that koalas are capable of demonstrating.'
Rescuer Hartley retrieved both koalas and after ensuring the male was in good condition released him in an area nearby.
Social media users were left in tears after watching the video, saying the footage was 'heartbreaking'.
'This is the saddest video ever. I'm crying my heart is broken,' one person commented.
'Oh god I know it’s natural but good God the sound of that little heart breaking is one of the worst things I’ve ever heard,' another person wrote.
'This is absolutely heartbreaking. His little cries. Poor little thing. Just proves animals have the same feelings we do,' a third chimed.
Koalas are in serious decline suffering from the effects of habitat destruction, domestic dog attacks, bushfires and road accidents.
As of 2023, the koala population is estimated at a maximum of 63,665 left in the wild, with possibly as few as 38,648, according to the Australian Koala Foundation.
Research conducted by the World Wide Fund for Nature-Australia found koala population decreased by 71 per cent after the 2019-2020 bushfires in six locations across the NSW's north coast.