Herstmonceux shops are helping save koalas in Australia

The mum and daughter duo behind the Little Bake Shop and The Village Pet Shop have joined forces to raise money for charities responding to the crisis.

The bakery in Gardner Street is selling shortbread koalas for £1.10, with 100 per cent of the profits going to charity.

While the pet shop on the same street is raffling a ‘mummy and baby’ pair of cuddly toy koala bears to raise funds.

Ellie Collins, of The Village Pet Shop, said what inspired her to do something was “watching all the devastation on TV and social media and feeling helpless”.

She said, “We thought there must be something that we could do. All I wanted to do was go over and help all of them.”

Ellie said she and her mother Paula, who runs the bakery, spoke to her aunt who works for the charity WWF, who encouraged them to start fundraising.

They came up with a few ideas and spoke to customers and one customer donated the cuddly koalas.

“We would like to try and raise as much money as we can to help all the poor animals,” she said.

More than half of the 60,000 koalas in Australia are believed to have been killed by the fires raging across the country.

All over the island, the animals are receiving treatment by rescuers for severe burns.

Experts believe an area the size of Iceland has been consumed in the fires, which continue to burn and have killed at least 29 people.

Thousands of homes have also been destroyed in the flames, and it is estimated 1.2 billion animals have died.

The fires have been described as unprecedented in the country’s history, and it is thought rising global temperatures have kept them burning.

I’ve studied climate change for years - seeing its effects in Australia is terrifying