Stuffed koalas have been spotted across New York City as part of a drive to raise awareness about the plight of wildlife affected by Australia’s bushfires.
New Yorkers woke up on Friday morning to find the cuddly toys attached to lamp-posts and poles around the Big Apple.
Each koala carries a message ‘1 billion of the world’s unique wildlife has died in the Australian bushfires’, along with information on how to donate to NSW animal charity WIRES.
The campaign was launched by the New York office of Melbourne-based advertising firm Cummins&Partners.
Photographer Jeremy Cohen said he joined staff from the agency in putting up the koalas ‘at the crack of dawn.’
The Koalas of NYC fundraiser has its own Instagram page @koalasofnyc.
So far its GoFundMe page has raised more than $7,000 USD, and aims to raise $10,000 USD (around $14,500 AUD) in total.
A statement from WIRES CEO Leanne Taylor on the campaign’s GoFundMe page thanks donors and explains that funds will distributed around Australia.
She said: “In what has become one of Australia’s most severe bushfire seasons, WIRES would like to take a moment to thank everyone for their support.
“While NSW has been hit the hardest with an estimated 800 million of the 1 billion animals affected to date and approximately 5 million hectares of land burnt, a National Emergency requires a national response and WIRES will act to provide assistance to all wildlife in line with our mission.
“The allocation of donations received by WIRES will be used to assist as many animals as possible across our nation – we can and will allocate funding and support to all states and territories where needed to assist animals affected by this crisis.”