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WATCH: Koalas on Australian island starve as residents cut trees to prevent fires

There are fewer than 90 000 koalas left in the wild. The small marsupial, native to Australia, lives almost exclusively off eucalyptus leaves.

But for people living on Raymond Island off the coast of Australia near the city of Melbourne, the eucalyptus trees represent a potential fire hazard in the dry, hot conditions the area has been experiencing.

Cutting down the trees may help reduce the chance of destructive bushfires, but for koalas it means a loss of their habitat and their main food source.

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