As there doesn’t seem an end to our “trauma” season, at least we have some positive outcomes including the story of this beautiful girl, Willa.
Willa was reported to us in February and we had seen her prior to this with suspicious possibility of conjunctivitis and eye injury. She was rescued by tree trapping which is humane and safe with easy transport to local experts for care.
Treated by the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital, she was released yesterday with a joey in her pouch into the tree she was retrieved from. As happy community members noted the professional and collaborative effort involved, Willa munched on fresh leaves happy to be “home”. We hope to see her with a back-rider in the months to come!
A koala rescue season can be incredibly wearing on our volunteers and our new rescue team has been cooperative and resilient through their first season. We are incredibly grateful for the newly trained team and we are hopeful that we can continue to train and add new members to help our local koalas.
Queensland Koala Crusaders’ 1stgeneral meeting for 2019 was held at the University of the Sunshine Coast on 2 March. Guest speaker, Phil Moran was welcomed by all present. His incredible knowledge of bush rehabilitation and his journey to get there was described through this engaging talk and if you missed it, perhaps we will have him back later in the year. Our next General Meeting will be held on 1stJune 2019 and Guest Speaker will be Dr. Darryl Jones of Griffith University. “Roads and Koalas: There is good news!" This will be a not to be missed event so mark your calendars and join us. Darryl will tell us all about land bridges and how they can help native species. Further information will be sent out to members and interested guests prior to this meeting.
So, what else is in store for our growing team? Big Projects await us!
We are awaiting confirmation for a community planting date for the Noosa Koala Habitat Recovery Project and will notify our membership as soon as we have this date locked in. It has been something that we have been aware of now for a year and it’s time we get those trees in the ground!
The seed funding for this incredible opportunity is being provided through the Body Shop World BioBridge Mission.
https://www.thebodyshop.com/about-us/our-commitment/bio-bridges
This will provide a connected corridor for koalas in our region by planting 12,000 trees over 30 hectares. By providing healthy habitat for growth and connection, the project will develop a haven for koalas and the many other species under their umbrella and be protected as National Park. Further to our initial funding from Body Shop UK, we have now acquired funding from Body Shop Australia and this will double our efforts to plant a total of 24,000 trees!
This gives us hope for a future where koalas will have a protected space to thrive.
Local businesses have also begun to support us as a carbon offset and with additional funding, we can continue to support the planting of more trees for koalas.
A big shout out to kanukapers http://www.kanukapersaustralia.com
And Laguna Pest Control https://www.lagunapestcontrol.com.auas they support us through their business. If you would like the opportunity to assist us as well, we can send you information regarding our business support program. It’s a great way to give back to our local green community.
So, with tree plantings on the horizon and voices for the koalas growing stronger within our community, I hope that you will tell your friends and get involved. Many hands make lighter work and we are a community that supports one another. Until next month,…
For koalas
Meghan