23 hours Ago By Caitlin Fitzsimmons
High winds brought by ex-tropical cyclone Alfred knocked koalas out of trees in northern NSW, while other animals such as kangaroos were caught in floodwaters and wildlife rescue groups reported an influx of injured native fauna. Friends of the Koala general manager Nina Ayalon said on Monday that six koalas – three adults and three joeys – had been rescued so far since the storm. Most appeared to have fallen out of trees, suffering concussion and injuries such as broken wrists.
“Usually the koalas that are healthy and in good condition are capable of weathering out storms, and they know how to protect themselves and hold on, while the koalas that are in poor conditions find it difficult and it’s just too much for them,” Ayalon said. She said search-and-rescue volunteers would scour forests from the Queensland border south to Richmond Valley near Lismore on Tuesday and later in the week, trying to collect data on koalas in the trees and rescue any found on the ground. Robert Leach, animal rescue officer at the International Fund for Animal Welfare, said his agency was co-ordinating various wildlife rescue groups and would be involved in the search.
Leach said Bear the koala detection dog was on standby at the University of the Sunshine Coast and could be used in the search. “Traditionally, detection dogs will be sniffing out scat or faeces or the droppings of these koalas at the base of trees, to give you a bit of an indication of where surviving animals would be,” he said. “The unique fact about Bear is that he’s trained to sniff out live koalas, and that could be particularly useful in a post-flooding event because faeces of animals may get significantly disturbed by floodwaters and it could really throw your tracking off.
” Five injured koalas were taken to the Friends of the Koala hospital in East Lismore, and one to Byron Bay Wildlife Hospital. Ayalon said two of the joeys and one adult were healthy, while the others had to be euthanised. One of the joeys is in the “kindergarten” at the hospital and one is at home with wildlife carer Liz McLeod because it needs marsupial formula milk as well as fresh leaves.
“She’s big enough to perch on a frame, so I have a little modified series of trees in my house,” McLeod said. Koalas are endangered in NSW. CSIRO estimates for 2024 suggested there were 95,000 to 238,000 koalas in NSW, Queensland and the ACT, and 224,000 to 524,000 nationwide.
Stephen Van Mil, co-founder of the Byron Bay Wildlife Hospital, said the facility had closed from Thursday to Saturday for the safety of staff but reopened on Sunday. “We were literally inundated with wildlife as we reopened the doors,” Van Mil said. As well as the koala, the hospital has treated an eastern grey kangaroo found caught in a stormwater drain, sea turtle hatchlings washed ashore in the swell, birds heavily waterlogged and unable to fly, a flying fox and a huge python.
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