A wildlife shelter has issued an urgent warning about feeding koalas water from a bottle because it can kill them.

"Please DO NOT GIVE WATER TO KOALAS BY POURING WATER FROM BOTTLES INTO THEIR MOUTHS," Animalia Wildlife Shelter in Frankston, Victoria said.

"With all the Facebook posts about people caring for wildlife amidst the fire and heat disasters over these past weeks, a silent tragedy is happening.

"Koalas are DYING because people are trying to help but don't understand how a koala actually drinks."


The shelter cited the case of Arnie, a koala who survived a bushfire with minor burns to his feet and hands in the town of Bairnsdale but died after a group of good Samaritans fed him some water from their bottle.