Australia hails tree surgeon who rescued fire-ravaged koalas
Tens of thousands of koalas had burnt to death in the fires that tore through Kangaroo Island, in the south of Australia, when Kailas Wild, a Sydney tree surgeon and accomplished climber, decided that he had to act.
He drove 1600km to reach Australia’s third-largest island 19 hours later. He had one objective – to save koalas. He believed that his ability to climb trees would mean that he could pluck the injured marsupials from the blackened tree tops.
Last week, after more than a month on the island, he returned to his Sydney home having saved 74 koalas. Some of them were very seriously injured, with burnt fur and paws and suffering the effects of smoke inhalation.
He also amassed more than 8000 Instagram followers of his frequent, sad posts about the 35,000 koalas that are believed to have died out of the island’s population of 50,000.
Over a perilous summer when many Australians felt helpless as hundreds of fires raged and an estimated one billion wild animals died in New South Wales alone, Wild’s daily 20m climbs to rescue frightened, injured koalas has been a model of courage and compassion. Often he could be heard apologising to the animals as his mounted camera recorded difficult rescues. Sometimes he wept as he visited them in treatment centres, wondering if they would survive their ordeal.
Now Wild, 29, has left Sydney again to make the long road trip back, unable to forget about the injured and starving koalas still wandering the island, which is more than 10 times the size of the Isle of Wight. His weeks there, he told his Instagram followers, had overwhelmed him emotionally.
Kangaroo Island has been likened to Noah’s Ark for its array of native wildlife including rare species of goanna, or monitor lizards, and the distinctive glossy black cockatoo. Wild has made a passionate plea not only for the koalas but also for the world’s disappearing wildernesses.
He recounted his first experiences with koalas a decade ago after he had completed a native animal rehabilitation course and began to help out part-time in a koala hospital.
‘‘I will never forget the first time I was in the personal space of a koala because it made me cry,’’ he said. ‘‘Every single koala that I met over that six-month period had either been attacked by a dog, hit by a car or had painful urinary infections.
‘‘Very quickly it hit me hard that the root cause of this problem isn’t the dogs, the cars or infections but the loss of their intact forest habitats. As I contemplate returning to Kangaroo Island, where I have added burns and starvation to my list of reasons why I’ve seen koalas requiring care, I can’t help but be reminded that to truly rescue wildlife, we must rescue the ecosystems that form the natural habitats that allow our wildlife to exist in relative safety. If we don’t, we will have no wildlife,’’ he told his followers on Tuesday, World Wildlife Day.
Inspired by his updates, hundreds of Australians have donated funds for another koala rescue climber as well as GPS devices, radios, first-aid kits and the hire of a four-wheel drive vehicle.
– The Times
‘‘I will never forget the first time I was in the personal space of a koala because it made me cry.’’ Kailas Wild