Free Republic

AN autopsy performed on baby koala Doug shows his killer executed the defenceless animal at close range with an air rifle. Pictures: Doug the baby koalaVeterinarians believe the trigger was pulled by a person standing above Doug after shooting his mother Meryl. The dehydrated joey, who was losing blood, and his mother suffered immense pain for 10 days until found at the base of a tree in Morayfield, north of Brisbane, on Tuesday.

The baby koala affectionately known as Doug has died after being shot with an air rifle north of Brisbane this week. The male joey had been on life support at the Australia Zoo on the Sunshine Coast, after he and his mother were found on Tuesday with slug gun wounds at Morayfield. The joey, who was months old and weighed only one kilogram, died late this afternoon on an operating table. He had also been suffering from pneumonia and was on oxygen because of the poor condition of his lungs. Yesterday vets said the koala was expected to make a...

A GUNMAN shot a koala in a tree then finished it off with more rounds after it fell to the ground west of Melbourne today. Police said the incident happened at Hopetoun Park, near Bacchus Marsh west of Melbourne, where a blue four-wheel-drive utility pulled up beside a tree on the Werribee River at 7:50am (AEDT) today, the Herald Sun reports. A witness has told investigators three men climbed from the vehicle and one of them shot the animal as it sat on a branch. It was blasted two more times after crashing to the ground.