A number of local koala deaths has prompted the Koala Action Gympie Region (KAGR) group to urge residents to be more vigilant of koalas which are active now during their breeding season.
KAGR spokeswoman Michelle Daly said since July there have been a number of fatalities on the roads including on the Bruce Highway at Cooroy, the Mary Valley Highway and Tin Can Bay Road.
“These roads pass through key koala populations in our region,” she said.
Last week a healthy female koala was hit on the Bruce Highway south of Gympie but was a lucky survivor.
Not so fortunate last week was a Mary Valley koala which was attacked by a domestic dog and died from its injuries.
There was no house/yard fencing in place to separate the dogs from koala bushland on the property.
“Koala awareness on our roads, and in respect of domestic dogs, is a vital part of any community’s efforts to save their local koalas,” Michelle said. “Critically there is an urgent need to retain any habitat where there is a known koala presence”.
“KAGR shares community concern over recent and ongoing significant clearings of koala habitat where there are resident koalas. Often these are koalas that local residents have cared about and enjoyed for years, and whose habitat they have carefully retained and often worked hard to improve.”
KAGR is urging landholders to seek advice on the local koala presence before removing koala habitat trees, and where trees need to be removed, to ensure that at least careful on ground koala spotting is done on each tree to ensure the safety of koalas.
“Each koala has a home range it knows intimately, frequently returning to the same trees over many years. The disturbance and removal of the habitat of such an endangered species can have profound implications, both for the individual koala and for the genetic diversity and sustainability of local koala populations”.
For more information visit www.mrccc.org.au/koala-action-group, send an email to koalas@mrccc.org,au or visit the KAGR on Facebook.
