HOW YOU CAN NAME THE KOALAS
of koalas who will need round-the-clock care for years to come.
Mum and baby also need names and I want to invite Express readers to come up with them! Just submit suggestions on the coupon above.
They also require full-time nursing care which is expensive. It costs £7,000 to treat one koala and there are many needing our help. Even when their wounds heal, mum and baby’s habitat has been ravaged by fire so they have no food or shelter.
In addition, the worst burns victims will be unable to navigate trees or forage for food in the wild ever again.They will have to remain in one of the many enclosures currently being built.
As I said, the eucalyptus trees on which they mostly feed have been burned to a cinder so, among suggestions under discussion, is the idea of importing leaves from trees on the mainland to feed the koalas. Another possibility is to rehome the Kangaroo Island bears on the mainland, allowing the island time to be replanted and regrow.
Whatever happens, this baby koala and his mum will probably spend their whole life in one of those enclosures. It is not what we want. They are wild animals after all and koalas, fairly solitary by nature, will find all this contact with humans very traumatic, possibly triggering stress-related behaviour. But we have no other choice.
Such moves have always been resisted in the past but the rulebook has been ripped up. We have to do whatever is necessary to ensure the safety of the species.
And the koalas are not alone. An area a third the size of Britain has been ravaged by the blazes which have been raging since
SAFE AT LAST: Scott with the baby and wildlife rescuer Simon Adamczyk carrying a singed koala to an emergency sanctuary
September. We don’t yet know the final figures but the continuing crisis has killed huge numbers of mammals, birds, reptiles and insects.
Some ecologists have predicted that more than a billion animals have died, though there won’t be a clear picture of the extent of the disaster until experts can access fireravaged habitats and conduct assessments.
IHAVE always loved animals and as a kid I rescued injured wildlife around my house in Brisbane and decided I wanted to be a vet when I was seven. I know that my new home, Britain, is a nation of animal lovers and I am appealing for your help.
The koala is unique to Australia and recognised worldwide as a symbol of its homeland. So in the wake of Australia Day yesterday, I am asking everyone out there to kindly make a donation to fund Koala-Aid, supporting new and existing wildlife hospitals to treat sick and injured Australian creatures affected by the bushfires.
We will reveal the names of mum and baby koala in next Saturday’s newspaper. Good luck and thank you for your donation.