Friends of the Koala has had a good start to the new year with a few koalas being released. Miss Sunshine and Nooboo being the first. Miss Sunshine came into care several months ago when she was found on the ground, too young to be by herself and with no sign of a mother. She settled very well into care with no health problems, a rare occurance for an orphan koala. Nooboo is the joey of a mother who has been in care. Her mother is still not ready for release but Nooboo was keen and ready to go. Miss Sunshine and Nooboo spent their last few weeks in care in a large tree together. Learning how to climb and knowing what it was like to feel the elements. Both were released in the same tree together. They both shot straight to the top of the climb, showing off their great climbing skills before settling down for a bite to eat.

Beanii was cared for in the Care Centre after coming into care with conjunctivitis. He had a very gentle nature and was a bit of a favourite in there so we were sad to see him go. However hearing how he zoomed up his release tree, not looking back until he was high in the branches demonstrates they really do belong back out their in the wild where they are happiest.

The Care Centre is nearly full again with several big boys all with chlamydia. The exception is little Pineapple who has a broken collar bone from a car hit. This little dispersing juvanile was a very lucky boy that this was his only injury when struck by a car. While it is not good that there are so many koalas in care it is a relief to us that there are some that can be rehabilitated. Before Christmas things were not looking good with nearly all the koalas coming in having incurable conditions so we were getting a bit worried and depressed.

Lets hope this year proves to be a good one for the koalas.

Submitted by Care Coordinator Barb Dobner