(CNN) Dogs who have been trained to find and save koalas in the wild are helping to rescue the animals in Australia's devastating bushfires.

Bear, a border collie-koolie cross, is a detection dog who sniffs out live koalas during search and rescue operations in New South Wales' Northern Rivers region, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).

"IFAW specifically sponsors koala detection dog Bear, but there are other dogs which the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland works with, some of which are trained to sniff for koala droppings, whereas Bear is trained to sniff out koala fur and identify where there are live koalas," IFAW spokeswoman Clare Sterling told CNN.

Bear was able to smell the scent of live koalas in the Ngunya Jargoon, an Indigenous Protected Area where 20-40 koalas lived before the wildfire destroyed 85% of its 1,000 hectares, according to a recent Facebook post by IFAW.

"Bear indicated there are definitely live koalas in the area, which is promising," read the post.

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