Ruth Watts has a trip to Australia on her bucket list. But before the Boothbay Harbor woman makes it there, a generous gift of hers will: Watts is sewing items to help Australia’s injured and orphaned wildlife. And she could use some help.

Watts, 57, has been making mittens for koalas healing from burns received in wildfires; she is now turning her focus to making pouches for orphaned joeys, in place of their kangaroo mothers’ pouches.

Watts began her sewing effort after seeing a Facebook post about the need for the mittens.

“I love koalas. I always have,” Watts said Jan. 15. “I saw that they were in need of these (mittens) and I decided to do it.”

Earlier this month, Watts, who works in customer service at Boothbay Region Water District, began making pairs of mittens with material she had; she also posted requests for material online.

Then on Jan. 15, she received an email from the nonprofit International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW): The email reported that, thanks to generosity in and outside Australia, plenty of mittens had already been received; but if people still wanted to help Australia’s wildlife, they could make the pouches for the joeys.

Watts is continuing to take donations of material, in large pieces to be able to make the pouches. Skip the T-shirts. Although they may meet the 100-percent cotton requirement so that the pouches can be washed, a T-shirt isn’t a big enough piece of material, she said. Cotton bed sheets, including flannel ones, will work.

She hopes to gather enough material to sew 25 to 30 pouches.

Anyone with material to contribute to Watts’ effort may drop it off at the water district office at 184 Adams Pond Road in Boothbay.

Along with the pouches, Watts will send the mittens she has sewn and some additional pairs she plans to sew, so that those caring for koalas in Australia in the future will have them.

Watts also cares about domestic animals in need. She adopted her cocker spaniel-King Charles mix Annie from Lincoln County Animal Shelter in Edgecomb.