Ellenborough Lewis, a koala whose rescue from the Australian brush fires went viral last week, died Tuesday.
The Port Macquarie Koala Hospital in New South Wales, Australia, said the veterinarians decided to put him to sleep, saying Lewis wasn’t recovering from his injuries.
“The burns did get worse, and unfortunately would not have gotten better,” the post read. “So it was on those grounds that this decision was made.”
Lewis went viral last Wednesday after a video showed a woman, identified as Toni Doherty, rescuing him as the flames burned all around them. She named him Lewis after one of her grandchildren.
CNN reported Lewis’ hands and feet were completely burnt, and his stomach, chest and nose were burned as well.
Experts have discredited media claims that koalas are “functionally extinct” after the Australian brush fires, but they have warned the public that the fires have put the species in greater jeopardy.
Watch Lewis’ rescue below, via the BBC.
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