CHLAMYDIA-FREE KOALAS FIRST TO BE RELEASED
TWO koalas, the first to be released back into the wild under a Gold Coast conservation program, will be texting carers their whereabouts twice daily.
The fluffy grey marsupials – Amily, 5, and El Youngo, 5 – will return to the wild today after being treated for chlamydia at Dreamworld’s koala conservation site.
Dreamworld Life Sciences general manager Al Mucci said: “Both koalas have a tag around their neck which will track them. We will get a text twice a day which will update us on how they are going.”
The pair were taken into care as they were unlikely to suvive due to land clearing and to be treated for the infectious disease almost all koalas carry.
They are the first two of 24 koalas taken in and cared for by Dreamworld to be released after a nine-month stay. Both will be released into the Coombabah Lake Nature Reserve.
In 2017 the Palaszczuk Government awarded $600,000 to The University of Queensland (UQ) and Dreamworld – in partnership with Queensland University of Technology (QUT) – through the Advance Queensland Innovation Partnerships program.
“We’ve worked out it takes about three months to cure a koala,” Mr Mucci said.
“They were given lots of antibiotics. It’s about managing the genetics and cleaning the animals.
“QUT look after the disease part, UQ do the genetic work and we do the handling and everything else related to helping them to be released.”
Mr Mucci said the antibiotics would ensure the released animals would not be reinfected once they interacted with other koalas.
Innovation Minister Kate Jones said they were released through the Living Koala Genome Bank project which was designed to use proven breeding strategies to protect koalas.
“Koalas are an iconic Queensland species and a hit with tourists around the world. They face serious threats from development, cars, dogs and also stressrelated diseases,” she said.
“It’s vitally important we help protect our local koala population. Improving the genetic diversity of wild koalas is one of the best ways to ensure the future survival of this species.”