Dog called Bear leads fight to save koalas from Australian bushfires

Bear the Dog and his handler Dr Romane Cristescu of Researchers Associate pose for a photo in Kandanga, Australia January 16, 2020. USC Detection Dogs For Conservation/Handout via REUTERS

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian scientists are using sniffer dogs to rescue koalas struggling to survive damaging bushfires as they try to avoid a repeat of last year's high death count of the native animals.

Led by Bear, a border collie and Australian cattle dog cross, Detection Dogs for Conservation saved more than 100 koalas in the country's worst summer of fires in decades from late 2019 to early 2020. About 6,000 koalas were killed and thousands of hectares of their natural habitat destroyed.