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Help Wanted: Australian Conservation Group Seeks New Koala Rescue Dog

This handout photo from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) taken on November 10, 2023, shows Bear, a koala detection dog who recently retired, during a training session at an unknown location. (Photo by Handout / International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) / AFP)
This handout photo from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) taken on November 10, 2023, shows Bear, a koala detection dog who recently retired, during a training session at an unknown location. (Photo by Handout / International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) / AFP)
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Help Wanted: Australian Conservation Group Seeks New Koala Rescue Dog

This handout photo from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) taken on November 10, 2023, shows Bear, a koala detection dog who recently retired, during a training session at an unknown location. (Photo by Handout / International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) / AFP)
This handout photo from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) taken on November 10, 2023, shows Bear, a koala detection dog who recently retired, during a training session at an unknown location. (Photo by Handout / International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) / AFP)

An Australian animal welfare group is seeking a heroic dog with an appetite for adventure for a full-time position as a koala rescuer.

The successful pooch will replace the world-famous Bear, credited with saving over 100 koalas from bushfires during a decade of service.

"Bear set the gold standard for koala detection dogs," the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) Oceania head of programs Josey Sharrad said, according to AFP.

"He's leaving very big boots to fill, but now it's time to find his successor to follow in his pawprints and keep protecting koalas."

The ideal candidate will be a rescue pup with a lot of energy and an "obsessive" personality -- attributes that might make it hard to find a home but which make it perfect for saving koalas, IFAW said.

"By only recruiting a rescue dog, it's a win-win -- giving a dog the chance of a new life while helping our iconic koalas," Innovation for Conservation director and handler Russell Miller said.

Other key attributes are a love of play, confidence and a gentle temperament towards fellow animals is crucial.

They must also be medium sized -- "not too small that they struggle in the bush, not too big that the handlers can't carry them when needed", according to the IFAW job ad.

Interviews were being held in eastern Australia's Sunshine Coast but applications by video are also welcome.

Bear's skills saved over 100 koalas as the Black Summer bushfires raged across Australia's eastern seaboard from late 2019 to early 2020, razing millions of hectares, destroying thousands of homes and blanketing cities in noxious smoke.

The tail-wagging detective with a "joyful and goofy" personality retired with an extensive list of accolades -- including an Animal of the Year award and Puppy Tales Photos Australian Dog of the Year award.

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Varieties

Russia Unblocks Roblox after Widespread Child Anger

People rest outside the Kremlin on a warm summer day in downtown Moscow, Russia, 05 June 2026. EPA/MAXIM SHIPENKOV
People rest outside the Kremlin on a warm summer day in downtown Moscow, Russia, 05 June 2026. EPA/MAXIM SHIPENKOV
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Russia Unblocks Roblox after Widespread Child Anger

People rest outside the Kremlin on a warm summer day in downtown Moscow, Russia, 05 June 2026. EPA/MAXIM SHIPENKOV
People rest outside the Kremlin on a warm summer day in downtown Moscow, Russia, 05 June 2026. EPA/MAXIM SHIPENKOV

Russia has lifted its ban on the popular gaming platform Roblox, after tens of thousands of children and parents sent letters complaining about the measure.

The platform -- which allows users to build their own games and share them with others -- was among Russia's most popular mobile games, tying third with TikTok in usage time among children in early 2025, according to Kaspersky Lab, a Moscow-based global cybersecurity firm.

In a statement published Wednesday, Russia's digital ministry said Roblox had successfully implemented measures to "protect children, including by launching a mechanism to restrict access to games by age group.”

"Roblox has also committed to continuing to combat the spread of undesirable content on the platform," the statement added.

Russia banned access to the US-owned platform last December, accusing it of distributing extremist materials and promoting "LGBT propaganda.”

A Roblox spokesperson told AFP at the time that the company was committed to safety and respected "local laws and regulations.”

Ekaterina Mizulina, the head of Russia's state-sponsored internet censorship watchdog, said in December she had received "63,000 emails" from disgruntled schoolchildren and parents commenting on the ban.

"This raises a question. Perhaps it's time to look for other ways to combat pedophiles and provocateurs who target children online?" she said.

Around 100 million people use Roblox daily, with under-13s accounting for around 40 percent of its 2024 users, according to the company.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that Roblox's unblocking in Russia "shows that all services can return if they comply with the law,” in comments to the state TASS news agency.

Varieties

Moose Put Down after Wandering Into Central Oslo

People and personell from the wildlife board mill around a dead moose that had strayed into Majorstuen,a inner city area in Oslo, Norway on, June 11, 2026. (Photo by Javad Parsa / NTB / AFP)
People and personell from the wildlife board mill around a dead moose that had strayed into Majorstuen,a inner city area in Oslo, Norway on, June 11, 2026. (Photo by Javad Parsa / NTB / AFP)
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Moose Put Down after Wandering Into Central Oslo

People and personell from the wildlife board mill around a dead moose that had strayed into Majorstuen,a inner city area in Oslo, Norway on, June 11, 2026. (Photo by Javad Parsa / NTB / AFP)
People and personell from the wildlife board mill around a dead moose that had strayed into Majorstuen,a inner city area in Oslo, Norway on, June 11, 2026. (Photo by Javad Parsa / NTB / AFP)

Norwegian police said Thursday that a moose that had wandered into downtown Oslo, drawing curious crowds, had been shot and killed.

Videos taken by witnesses and published by Norwegian media show the disoriented animal galloping through the streets of the Norwegian capital, weaving around cars and pedestrians.

"For animal welfare reasons, the moose was put down" by the wildlife authorities, AFP quoted the police as saying.

Although such incidents remain rare -- moose tend to avoid metropolitan areas -- this is the second such incident recorded in two days in Scandinavia.

On Tuesday, a young moose was put down in Sweden after it strayed into the streets of Stockholm.

Varieties

WWI Soldier's Postcard from Home Helps Unite his Family after a Century

A poppy wreath and a photo next to the grave of Private Thomas Redvers Whitaker during a burial ceremony for six British soldiers of World War I, at the CWGC's Tyne Cot Cemetery in Zonnebeke, Belgium, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
A poppy wreath and a photo next to the grave of Private Thomas Redvers Whitaker during a burial ceremony for six British soldiers of World War I, at the CWGC's Tyne Cot Cemetery in Zonnebeke, Belgium, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
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WWI Soldier's Postcard from Home Helps Unite his Family after a Century

A poppy wreath and a photo next to the grave of Private Thomas Redvers Whitaker during a burial ceremony for six British soldiers of World War I, at the CWGC's Tyne Cot Cemetery in Zonnebeke, Belgium, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
A poppy wreath and a photo next to the grave of Private Thomas Redvers Whitaker during a burial ceremony for six British soldiers of World War I, at the CWGC's Tyne Cot Cemetery in Zonnebeke, Belgium, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

A postcard belonging to a World War I soldier whose body was found with five comrades during an excavation has helped reunite distant descendants more than a century after his death on the Western Front.

Dozens of mourners attended a memorial service in western Belgium on Wednesday during which six new white marble headstones were dedicated to the British soldiers whose remains were recently identified through the use of archival research and DNA analysis, The Associated Press reported.

The six burials at the Tyne Cot Cemetery included that of Pvt. Thomas Whitaker, who died in the trenches carrying a postcard from Bradford, in north east England, where some of his relations still live.

At the ceremony were three members of the Whitaker family. Under sunshine piercing the gray drizzle, Joe Whitaker, 22, read aloud a poem written in honor of his great-great-uncle: “At peace in foreign hills, he finally drifts away to sleep, his mind on Bradford mills.”

The soldier's postcard proved to be a crucial piece of evidence that helped British government researchers establish his identity and ultimately linked Joe's family with another, estranged, branch of the Whitaker family.

Joe said: “The thought that (Thomas) might have been thinking of home, comforted by this postcard that he kept on him from Bradford — we were all quite taken aback by that.”

He said writing a poem “felt like the right thing to do.”

Alexia Clark, a commemorations case worker at the UK Ministry of Defense’s Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre (JCCC), said the six soldiers were found during an excavation in western Belgium. But the discovery of the postcard on one of them proved to be a crucial “hint.”

She added: “And then actually when we looked at the missing list and went, ‘Oh we have got one from Bradford! Great, there’s a strong chance that he is going to be one of them.‘”

By matching the postcard with other found artifacts, including a Lewis Gun and uniforms, the JCCC researchers — known as “the war detectives” -- were able to zero in on a likely group of men from the more than half a million British soldiers still missing from World War I.

The team contacted potential relatives for DNA samples, and the analysis confirmed the identity not only of Thomas Whitaker, but also privates Horace Frederick Cook, Frederick Martin, Charles Richard Russels, Courtney Darvill Hart and Joseph Turnley -- all members of 2/4 Battalion Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment.

Paul Turnley was presented with a British flag folded into a triangle given by the military in honor of the sacrifice of his relation, Pvt. Joseph Turnley.

“Just a privileged to be laying a relative of ours to rest, to watch, to be present and then to be passed the flag... it was the greatest treasure actually,” said Paul, in tribute to his grandfather’s cousin.

As nearby cows, students and bike riders watched along an adjacent farm road, a military musician played a martial lament on a cornet, while prayers were said by the Rev. Adéle Rees.

Then Pvt. Jone Wainile of the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment honor guard read the poignant Kohima Epitaph: “When you go home tell them of us and say, ‘For your tomorrow, we gave our today.’”

Paul Whitaker said: “My children, my grandchildren, anyone, can come and know where Thomas is, and that is a lovely thing to have. It’s just a real privilege to have Thomas be one of the ones that has been found.”