Separated from her mother, the young koala hugged a stuffed animal that Australian officials had given her. They were deciding whether to kill her mom, or release them back into the wild together.

A joey waits for its mother during vet check in Cape Otway.Part of program to manage overpopulation @9NewsMelb #9news http://t.co/D6jf4in5DB

Local journalist Neary Ty tweeted the photo as she reported on Cape Otway's koala cull that took the lives of 700 koalas in 2013 and 2014.

After inspecting the mother koala, officials determined the healthy mother and her young joey could return to the wild. But before releasing her, they injected her with a hormonal contraceptive, in an effort to decrease the future koala population.

Sadly, not all the koalas who came into contact with the authorities were so lucky. Of the 70 koalas inspected in the first few days of this recent two-week sweep, 10 koalas were euthanized.

"The intervention was necessary to prevent suffering of koalas because they weren't able to find enough food," Victorian environment minister Lisa Neville told RT in March when news of the secret cull first broke.