A SICKENING act of animal cruelty is believed responsible for a koala found overnight with seven slug gun pellets lodged in its body.

The male koala, found at a remote location at Kippa-Ring on Brisbane's northside, had been callously shot in every limb sometime last week.

The six-year-old will today be operated on at the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital, where staff have nicknamed him Fleet.

See the pictures as vets examine Fleet's wounds.

Vet Dr Amber Gillett, who examined Fleet last night, placed him on intravenous antibiotics, strong pain relief and fluids.

She said she was angry the koala had suffered such "immense cruelty".

"Every limb has been shot," she said. "He's been shot from every side.

"It's just an immense cruelty to picture someone standing there taking pot-shots as this animal as he tries to move away from them - it's just horrible.

"Although they're only little slug pellets, if these people got close enough, they could do serious damage.

"If one had gone through his eye it could have been a completely different story."

Fleet was believed to have been found by Department of Environment and Resource Management officers who were surveying bushland at Kippa-Ring yesterday afternoon.

The Australia Zoo Rescue Unit retrieved the injured animal about 4pm and it was last night examined at the Wildlife Hospital in Beerwah.

Dr Gillett said Fleet, who has large cuts on his face and foot, had been suffering with his wounds for up to a week.

She said: "The wounds are infected and usually it would take at least four to five days for infection like this to set in, so I suspect the injury may have happened about a week ago.

"The big laceration on his nose I suspect is a graze injury, so a pellet has taken away the tissue but hasn't lodged anywhere. He has an entry point on the top of his nose, behind the big laceration, so I suspect that's where the bullet in the sinus went in."

Dr Gillett said she would today remove the other pellets, which were not lodged too deeply.

"Tomorrow (Friday) we'll assess him and see how he is," she said.

"If he's stable and bright I'll attempt to remove the superficial pellets at the back of the ear and elbow.

"The one in his skull will stay where it is forever, it's too deep to go poking round to try to remove it."

Environment Minister Vicky Darling said she was sickened by the act.

"I am absolutely appalled by this," she said.

"I hope whoever is responsible for injuring this animal has the book thrown at them.

"I would urge anyone who knows anything about it to contact police."

Under the Nature Conservation Act, the maximum penalty for harming a koala is $300,000 or two years' imprisonment.

Police have been called in to investigate.

Originally published as Koala shot seven times in sickening act