At 2 a.m., with the windows down and the warm Queensland air thick with eucalyptus and exhaust, I found myself in the passenger seat of a speeding hatchback, barreling toward a tangled fence and a trapped koala. I’m visiting the Moreton Bay Koala Rescue. In the glow of suburban streetlights, a small band of resolute women are fighting to save the koala—not from the wild, but from us. What unfolded next was part wildlife rescue, part urban triage, and part elegy for a species so imperiled it may not survive our century.
Photos by Joe Sartore
Original story published in the May 2012 issue of National Geographic.
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