Viral photo of koala burnt in Qld bushfire restored by Facebook
Facebook has backtracked and restored a photo of a dead koala to the account of a Queensland man trying to raise awareness of the plight of the animals in recent bushfires. WARNING: GRAPHIC
QLD News
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THIS is the bushfire photo that Facebook deemed too graphic to be published.
The post of the photo of a dead koala burnt in a recent Queensland bushfire near Lowood was shared more than 16,000 times and attracted more than 1000 comments after volunteer firefighter Peter Luker posted it to his Facebook page.
Mr Luker, 55, said a fellow firefighter took the photo in December and permitted him to post it to help raise awareness.
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“To those who walk among us who want to light fires or act irresponsibly,” Mr Luker wrote in his post above the photo.
“Feel free to pick up a shovel and help us bury your victims.”
Mr Luker – who along with his wife Trudi, also volunteers with the Ipswich Koala Protection Society – later said his post with the photo had disappeared.
“Facebook blocked it,” he said. “Someone must have reported it as being against their standards. How absurd is that.”
Mr Luker said he appealed the decision but weeks later he still had not heard back from social media giant.
The firefighters stumbled across the carcass near a service road that leads to the Wivenhoe Dam wall, following a bushfire that was sparked after a car crash, according to Mr Luker.
“I can’t confirm it but other fireys said the driver was doing wheelies or the like, had an accident and the car caught fire,” he said.
“That fire burnt a substantial area, including through a number of farms.”
The Wolston Correctional Centre supervisor said he posted the distressing photo to help raise awareness.
“The posting was about the consequences of what happens when acting irresponsibly,” he said.
“People don’t understand the consequences of their actions and the fire that koala died in was a result of someone acting irresponsibly.
“A lot of not just people, but animals, are reliant on us (humans) not doing stupid things.”
Mr Luker said it was more important than ever before to take care of wildlife, especially koalas.
“Koalas are on the endangered list … Every single koala counts now,” he said.
“It’s a long road to recovery.”
Hundreds of koalas have been killed and millions of hectares of their habitat destroyed during the past few months of bushfires.
Mr Luker said only one survivor out of the local koala colony was found following the fire where the carcass was found.
“(Volunteers) gone out and done surveys after the fires,” he said. “We have a little baby at home we rescued from the fire area. It has some little burns but is in our nursery recovering well.”
The joey has been named Maryanne after Maryanne Oliver, who started a GoFundMe for the ISPS and is one of the society’s biggest supporters.
Maryanne is believed to be between nine and 12 months old.
The burnt koala photo has since been used around the world alongside other devastating images such as the one of a burnt kangaroo trapped in a fence as it tried to flee fires in South Australia.
Mr Luker said it was devastating to see the burnt koala.
“I’ve been doing this a fair while and it brought a tear to my eye,” he said.
“I’m quite affected by it. It’s just a helpless little animal. It’s quite devastating.”
Just hours after being contacted by the Courier Mail, the photo was restored to Mr Luker’s page.
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