A video has been posted on Reddit that shows two cousins travelling around one of the areas worst hit by the Australian bushfires collecting koalas and taking them to safety in their car.

As Australia continues to be devastated by the horrendous bushfires - with half a billion animals and perhaps entire species wiped out - there are still a few positive stories, and this is one of them.

The short video shows a car filled with koalas that have been rescued in a car. It was filmed on Kangaroo Island, known as Australia's answer to the Galapagos Islands because of the rich biodiversity present there.

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Around half of Kangaroo Island is thought to have been destroyed by the fires. It's estimated that more than 20,000 koalas have died, over half of the island's 50,000-strong population, but these lads made sure it didn't spell the end for at least some of them.



Credit: Micah & Caleb via Storyful

The two boys in question are 19-year-old Micah and 18-year-old Caleb. While we're not exactly sure how many koalas they managed to rescue, they reckon that it's around 20.



Of that number, six of the poor marsupials were orphaned and two of them were mothers with children.

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As well as rescuing them, they're going to look after them until they can return to the wild, and refuse to take them off the island because it would further hurt an already decimated local population.

Credit: Micah & Caleb via Storyful

Obviously, they couldn't rescue all of them and had to choose which of the stricken creatures most needed their help.

Their cousin, who shared the video originally, said they left behind any animals that seemed to be OK.

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They worked on the criteria that any animals that didn't have burns and were active, mature and responded quickly were still able to fend for themselves. That meant more vulnerable koalas were the first to be saved.

However, while they were rescuing them they saw first-hand the horrific damage that is being done. They reported that around 60 percent of the koalas they came across had burned to death, while one fifth of the koalas they saved died within the first day due to their injuries.

Still, among all of the horror, there are people out there trying to make a difference for the better.

The video was shared on Reddit with the caption: "Amid the terrible bushfires in Australia, my cousins went out and saved as many koalas as they could. Good on 'em."

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