ILUKA KOALAS

Some years ago, there was a vibrant koala colony around Iluka, but bushfires, disease, dogs and expansion of human activity drastically reduced their numbers.

With no reported sightings for several years it was thought the population had died out, and koalas were deemed to be functionally extinct from Iluka. But then records by WIRES Clarence Valley branch began to rekindle interest, and further ecological studies showed them to be returning, albeit in very small numbers.

Tragically one or two were road deaths, and some beyond help, so unable to be returned. However more lately koalas have been reported, mainly from around the golf course, the conservation reserve,  Sid Gill Park, Iluka Road, and in more unexpected places like Moriarty's break wall, from where it was relocated by WIRES, on a cafe verandah, and in a resident's garage.

Photographs taken by Iluka's keen koala spotters have shown these animals to be mainly in good health, so able to be left to do what koalas are designed to do.

Recently a cyclist spotted a koala cross the Iluka Road into bushland, where it climbed a small tree then sat a convenient 2m off the ground, so enabling a good close look. The resident then called Clarence Valley WIRES, and reported the koala to be an adult male, suffering from an injured or diseased left eye.

Unfortunately he disappeared before help could arrive. So residents are now urged to keep a look out for this koala, which could be in severe trouble if the eye problem is a chlamydia-related disease.

WIRES are also calling for Iluka residents as well as visitors to the area, to report all koala sightings, whether apparently healthy or not, for recording on the NSW Wildlife Atlas, or for capture and treatment where possible of sick or injured animals by experienced WIRES koala rescuers and carers, before hopefully their safe return to their usual surroundings.

Even a koala high in a tree will add to the knowledge of their range

For any sightings please notify the WIRES Threatened Species Reporting Officer (0456 689 134)

- Patricia Edwards

 This article was originally published in the VOICES FOR THE EARTH column in The Daily Examiner on September 25, 2017. 

NOTE: Iluka is on the northern side of the mouth of the Clarence River.

SHANE THE KOALA SEEN AGAIN THREE YEARS AFTER WIRES TREATMENT

Photo: G Eggins

At dusk on 23 May 2014 a male koala was released into a red gum tree on Mulligan Drive, Waterview Heights. He climbed awkwardly, gripping the tree with one hind leg instead of his foot, bringing doubts about his survival chances in the wild and the decision to release him.

This koala first came into WIRES' care in October 2013 after a tangle with a dog. Named after the owner who promptly called WIRES then helped to get him out of his garden shrub, Shane was an 8 kg 6 year old with a few bites on his rump and a broken hind foot from the fray. X-rays later found he also had a previously broken tibia, but otherwise was in good shape

Once captured Shane was given painkillers and antibiotics at the Clarence Valley vet clinic, and next morning was in surgery at the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital, where his crushed toe was amputated and he spent the next seven months undergoing treatment and therapy.

As a dominant male Shane could only be returned to his home territory, as close as sensibly possible to his pick-up site. And so, after many further hours confined in a basket returning to Grafton, a travel-weary, grumpy Shane was finally freed into the favoured food tree some 400 metres from where he was found.

With so much effort and hundreds of dollars spent in getting Shane safely home, the only thing to do now was wish him a safe and trouble-free rest of his life and leave him to his own devices. The rest was up to him - and luck.

Now photos taken by resident Gary Eggins of a big koala who regularly visits his property, wearing an orange ear tag with the word WIRES and number 1177, have positively identified Shane, alive and well and in great condition. 

Photo: G Eggins

Shane now is old for a wild koala, so residents are asked to watch for him, to keep him safe while he happily lives out the rest of his time in the area he grew up in.

- Patricia Edwards

This article was originally published in the VOICES FOR THE EARTH column in The Daily Examiner on April 24, 2017.      

LIZZIE'S STORY

In December last year WIRES (Wildlife Information Rescue and Education Service) was called to help a small koala found at Waterview Heights   with a bad case of conjunctivitis.

Lizzie weighed 3kg, but while quite thin and underweight the size of her head and her sharp little teeth showed her to be still very young, probably not long having left her mother and already running into trouble.

Waterview (a rural residential area west of Grafton) is a known hotspot for koalas where residents look out for them and keep them safe. But koala food trees are limited in the urban setting and a young koala can have difficulty finding unoccupied habitat for itself. Also this was a time of protracted drought, when smatterings of rain were doing nothing to raise the moisture in the leaves koalas' depend on. As the summer temperatures rose, so did the number of koalas coming down from the trees, severely dehydrated, empty-gutted, and most unable to be saved.

Lizzie's vet examination showed her to be free of urogenital chlamydia, which usually means cysts and euthanasia for female koalas. An ultrasound check showed her kidneys to be normal, and blood tests and swab samples proved her only problem to be the ocular chlamydia and corneas severely altered by the infection.

Being young and viable Lizzie was accepted for the costly treatment and started on a 28 day course of injections and eye treatments. Quite early on it looked likely her sight might be saved, but still there was a long battle ahead to save her. A finicky eater from the start she never seemed hungry, her hydration levels were difficult to maintain and on hot days she would stop eating altogether. The majority of harvestable leaves were from trees that had suffered a disastrous fire a few months earlier, so were young epicormic growth, low in protein.

Lizzie ready for release

Lizzie was started on koala milk, which predictably she turned her nose up at, but with a small drop of eucalypt oil and a pinch of high protein powder added she took to guzzling it very nicely. Then for a day or two she would start to pick up, before another searing day knocked her down again. In time she started lapping water, which made things easier, but she would never look for it and would drink only if it was put under her nose. When the forecast predicted above 32 degs temperatures she was back in her hospital cage in the cool bathroom.

In more ways than one though this little girl was different to the rest. She became the first koala in our branch to be cared for locally through the full chlamydia treatment to its clearance, and her eventual release.

Previously, with no knowledgeable koala vet in Grafton and the wildlife hospitals an inaccessible distance away in Queensland, our branch practice was to rely heavily on the wonderful staff of the Lismore Friends of Koala group and their almost-specialist koala vet at the Keen Street clinic. When a koala was delivered there, it stayed there, with the vet on tap and a team of volunteers to gather trailer loads of leaves and administer treatments, and long experience to help the koalas safely through their ordeal

This time though, with our environmentalist-trained vet Ray Barnett ready to help, the arrival into the Valley of WIRES' State Koala Coordinator for morale support, and a sudden access to the Sydney University's new Koala Heath Hub for medications, specimen testing and free support to koala carers everywhere, things took on a different slant. With suitable care and pre-release facilities at Shannondale it was decided we could take her through ourselves.

It was never easy. Collecting armloads of beautiful fresh leaves every evening, only to see them thrown out untouched the next evening was upsetting and worrying. But still Lizzie managed to slowly eke back some of the weight she had lost, until final tests cleared her of chlamydia and she was ready for pre-release. Now, with a tree of her own to climb and eat from and a few supplementary leaves from different species to pick at, she stayed comfortably sheltered in the pen until the weather finally cooled and a first good rain shower brought that light at the end of the tunnel. After 3 months in care Lizzie had gained only 1kg in weight, but she was eating better, looked healthy, and it was decided nothing more could be done for her. She was taken out of her pen that evening and left silouetted against the evening sky in the arms of an old swamp mahogany tree.

Lizzie released

Whether she is a success or not we most likely will never know. But the very best we can ever do is give them a second chance at life. The rest is up to her. Good luck little Lizzie, you have had quite a journey.

- Pat Edwards, Clarence Valley WIRES Koala Coordinator

EDUCATING THE BABY RUFOUS BETTONG

Adult and juvenile bettong.             Photo: P Edwards

It is pitch dark outside. the big stars having little effect on the texture of the night. A stiff little breeze blows in from the west, carrying the edge of winter. I tread with care, flicking my torch over the grass, straining to listen above the sound of the wind in the she-oaks. I move the light across the lawn, then quickly away again. He is there, a small lump, motionless, paler than the grass. I move towards him quietly, needing to be closer, avoiding highlighting his position with the torch. A powerful owl is in the area, I heard it just last night, and it takes only a few swift seconds for its silent wings to bear down on a plump and tasty meal.

The tiny 700g bettong finishes his toilet and races a quick circuit of the lawn, moving from zero to lightning speed in a second. I can't see him now, but he is aware of where I am, staying close, and in time I pick up his almost soundless steps bounding back to my heels, then behind, then shadowing ahead again, playing, stretching his legs, gaining vital muscle, speed and strength.

It is a critical time for a baby bettong. He is rapidly nearing soft release, but at this age it is dangerous for him to be out alone in the night without his mother. If she is not with him, he is likely to stay tight in her nest, waiting for her return from her nightly foraging to feed him the milk he still needs to grow. If she fails to come back, he will pine, and die, starving in the nest.

But by now he should be following her on short sojourns, learning about the night sounds, what to fear and not to fear, how to feed himself, and importantly, to learn his territory and how to return to his nest. For this it is vital that he trusts his human carer, sees me as his security, and if something triggers his natural response he will always come back to where he knows I am waiting. It doesn't matter that I am human. As with all native animals he will soon revert to wild behaviour once independent and in his natural habitat

In the dark around the garden I can't walk the kilometer or two he needs to travel, but 4 circuits is a good run and he is moving further than me, racing in circles, bounding to and fro, exploring, stopping to dig, expending his pent-up energy, until finally he slows and stays at my heels, moving in unison with me. Then it is time to walk him back to his pen, to show him the partly open gate, and his nest, where grain and vegetables wait scattered in the soil for him to dig out in the night.

It might be cold outdoors but it is a magic time, enhanced by the silent arrival of a newly released older bettong. Bec has been out in the wild for a week. She has her own nest somewhere in the forest and knows her way around. But she likes to meet and greet the baby and play for a while, joining us on our walk in the garden. Then she is gone as suddenly as she appeared, and the baby is tired, glad to wriggle back into his warm nest and sleep again for a time

-          Pat Edwards

Bettong Pumpkin in care       Photo: P Edwards

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So far Pat has released 13 bettongs into the Shannondale area, a known hot-spot for the species. Rufous bettongs are listed as Vulnerable under the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act, but through cat and fox predation, clearing for development, under-scrubbing, and fire while the joey is in the nest, they could be disappearing even from where they were previously doing well.

Every hand-raised bettong must be soft-released, their nest kept readily available until they have built their own, and the old one is empty for several days. Some online information suggest they can be released at 500g. But a bettong alone at that age, with no nest, or understanding of how to build one, means certain death for the baby. At that weight they are extremely vulnerable to predators, especially larger forest owls that can easily carry an under 1kg animal, and a 500g baby is still dependent on its mother, will still be suckling for a further 7 weeks, and will rarely emerge from the maternal nest without her.

At least one bettong has come into care at only a little under this weight. Pumpkin, as he was called, was found dying, tick-ridden and severely dehydrated beside his mother's body, unable to survive alone.

He was safely reared and released. 

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Pat Edwards is a wildlife carer with WIRES in the Clarence Valley.  This article is being published in the WIRES local newsletter.