Considering our current climate situation, you never know when you might need to share your bottle of water with a needy animal. And while the world currently has its eyes on the disastrous fires in Australia and their aftermath, we’ve seen many people trying to help animals in the best way they know how – but occasionally they do more harm than good.

After a koala bear named Arnie died from being given water the wrong way following his rescue from a bushfire, advice on how to save a koala that has suffered from dehydration and smoke inhalation is going viral.

Of course, because it’s the Internet, people are also irrationally angry that they weren’t taught how to save a koala bear properly sooner.

So here’s the thing – and it probably applies to a lot of animals for the same reason – you SHOULD NOT pour water from above into a koala bear’s mouth.

Now you know.

Arnie’s life came to an end when a well-meaning citizen gave him a drink from a water bottle. The koala seemed happy to get some water, despite the fact that these animals don’t normally “drink.” They get all the water they need from gum leaves, their main food source.

When the water washed down Arnie’s throat, it got into his lungs. While most people think pneumonia is caused solely by viruses and bacteria, creatures (humans included) can also get the condition when they aspirate something into their lungs. For Arnie, this aspiration pneumonia was fatal.

But Anamalia Wildlife Shelter, who first shared the information, isn’t telling people not to help or give koalas water – they’re simply telling people how to do it the RIGHT way.

On the off-chance you need to rehydrate a koala bear (or, frankly, any animal), put the water in a dish and let them lap it up.

They elaborated in a Facebook post:

“If you are nowhere near help then the best way to hydrate koalas is to PLACE A BOWL OF WATER ON THE GROUND OR POUR THE WATER IN TO YOUR HAT/HELMET/CUP ETC AND HOLD NEAR KOALAS [sic] MOUTH SO THAT IT CAN LAP AT IT, FACE DOWN.

Please remember that Koalas are arboreal and nocturnal. If you see one sitting on the ground during the day then please contact a wildlife rescue organisation.”

Most of us just want to help when we see an animal in need, but our instincts aren’t always the best.

It also doesn’t help that photos of people giving koala bears water bottles have gone viral. It’s up to the media to update those stories with better information.

Of course, not every sip of water from a bottle is going to kill a koala bear – or lead to pneumonia. The point is that it can and that if people want to help, they should feel welcome to do it in the safest way possible.

Australia is no stranger to the detrimental effects of climate change. In fact, even though koalas haven’t really evolved to drink water, the changing climate has forced them to start and water stations can now be found for them around the country.

While the non-profit organization is encouraging people to spread the news about giving water to koalas, they are also pointing out that they’ve been trying to do so for quite some time now. The problem tends to be animal lovers themselves who think they can do no wrong when trying to help and shut down the advice since they hadn’t already heard about it.

It’s clear we all need to be a lot more open to new information WITHOUT constantly bickering over it.

You can scroll down below to see Animalia Wildlife Shelter’s original post about Arnie and the comments it spawned.

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Source: Bored Panda, Anamalia Wildlife Shelter via Facebook, The Dodo,