From disease to bushfires, Australia's iconic koalas face bleak future

A mother koala named Kali and her joey, monitored by not-for-profit conservation organisation Science for Wildlife, as part of the Blue Mountains Koala Project spearheaded to plan for koala recovery in the region, are seen in their natural habitat in an area affected by bushfires, in the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, near Jenolan, Australia, September 14, 2020. REUTERS/Loren Elliott

KANANGRA-BOYD NATIONAL PARK, Australia (Reuters) - At work, Morgan Philpott cares for sick children. In his off-hours the Australian paediatric nurse turns his attention to an equally defenceless group: unwell koalas.

"They really run the risk of becoming extinct inside our lifetime," Philpott said of the New South Wales koala population at an animal hospital on Sydney's outskirts while helping a veterinarian treat a rescued koala infected with the bacterial disease chlamydia.