Photo: A dead koala at the side of Ewingsdale Rd Byron Bay July 2018, courtesy Friends of the Koala
Our local koala populations continue to be at risk from vehicle strikes as well as from disease and habitat loss.
Content warning - Heartbreaking footage from 2017 of a koala trapped in the St Helena tunnel has been released by the RMS after some dedicated work by members of our community to obtain the video.
The NSW Government needs to act to to preserve the dwindling local populations of koalas - with better fencing and importantly better maintenance of fencing to prevent wildlife straying on to busy roads, together with safe animal crossings and wildlife corridors.
I will be asking questions of the Environment Minister about the circumstances of the death of the koala in the St Helena tunnel and I continue to call for a monitoring program for local populations of koalas around Wardell and Meerschaum Vale.
Our local populations of koalas are small and need safe wildlife corridors so that they can move to new areas to find food or mates. A koala monitoring program would track koala numbers and enable sick koalas to be brought in for treatment and vaccinations given to prevent the spread of disease.
I have sponsored koala tree plantings at Bangalow and another koala habitat planting project at Meerschaum Vale.