When pictures of raging bushfires tearing across Australia appeared on our TV screens, it was hard to get our heads around the devastation caused. From the end of last summer until spring this year, around 26.4 million acres – land the size of Virginia – burned while thousands of homes, livelihoods and dozens of lives were lost.
One of the stories of the fires that most pulled on our heartstrings though was that of Australia’s native and iconic koalas, who lost their habitat, their source of food and tragically for more than 6,000 their lives. We know from your letters that many of you were moved by the situation and generously donated towards the koala rescue effort. So a few months on from when the last fires died out, how are koalas doing now?
The good news is that thanks to the tireless emergency rescue and rehabilitation effort of dozens of animal rescue charities, much of which was coordinated and funded by WWF-Australia, many koalas left injured or homeless by the fires are now on the road to recovery.
Take Maryanne, nicknamed the ‘miracle’ koala who was just 12 months old when she was found a few days before Christmas, alone, underweight and suffering burnt paws from fires in her home in Wivenhoe Dam Wall, west of Brisbane.RSPCA vet Claire Phillips and koala carer Trudi Timbs stumbled across her by accident when they heard a rustling noise in the trees and she was taken to the RSPCA Wildlife Hospital where she was put on a drip, given pain relief and treatment for her burns.
After this emergency treatment, she was handed to koala carers Peter Luker and Trudi Timbs with whom she developed enough trust to let them rub salve on her poorly paws each day. Over the next six months, Maryanne’s wounds healed, her weight doubled and she was able to go back to the wild at a spot near where she was found. “She has been through trauma and come out the other end like a true Aussie battler,” says WWF’s Darren Grover who watched her miraculous release.
For other koalas, though, the process of getting back in the wild is not so simple. For a start, some koalas rescued from the fires were left with not just physical injuries but mental scars, too, the trauma of which can take longer much to get over. There’s also the challenge, for koalas like Frankie who was saved from fires in Mallacoota that singed his fur, that his habitat was so badly destroyed, it will take a few years to grow back with enough food and shelter to meet his needs. In the meantime, Frankie has a happy home at Phillip Island Nature Park where he’s building up his climbing confidence and eating the sanctuary out of house and home until his old stomping ground is ready for his return.
However, for all the koalas cared for in places like Phillip Island Nature Park, it’s thought there may still be many koalas living in areas affected by the bushfires who may be struggling to get by with limited food supplies as well as possible injuries. That’s where a group of koala detection dogs from OWAD Environmentcome in handy. Trained to detect the smell of koala poo, these Springer Spaniels search for signs of the marsupial so that their human handlers can then check if the koala looks fit and healthy and contact a wildlife rescuer to step in and give some TLC if needed. The project will also help map koala habitat for the long term and is just one small part of a $1 million operation for koala rescue, care and recovery.
For while the bushfires saw the largest single wildlife loss in modern history, the koala was a species already on the brink, meaning the fires have now pushed them even closer to an expected extinction by 2050. That’s why WWF-Australia is developing a five-year Koala Bounce Back plan to slow and reverse the decline of koalas, mainly in the worst affected regions in New South Wales.
The aim is to create new koala habitat, starting with planting 10,000 urgently needed trees as well as tree corridors that allow to move safely between their habitats. Drones that distribute native seeds to replenish the burnt land with new plants that wildlife can feed off will also be trialled as well as a fund for landholders who reduce deforestation and help koala habitats thrive.
At this time there are calls to make the koala an officially ‘endangered’ species – rather than just ‘vulnerable’ as it’s listed at the moment. This would increase protection for forests and woodland where koalas live and enable politicians to make tree logging in such regions illegal.
Josey Sharrad from the International Fund for Animal Welfare involved in the campaign said: “Koalas were already living on a knife edge and these fires have left them fighting for their very survival. They need a helping hand and some breathing space to recover. We owe them that at least.”
If you’d like to donate towards the ongoing efforts to save koalas visit support.wwf.org.uk/australia-bushfires or call 01483 426333
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