The Great Koala Rescue

On Monday October 29th October a car hit a Koala near the entrance to the Blackwood Golf Course and the driver did not stop however a caring lady from Aldinga who happened to witness the incident stopped and after a number of phone calls to various people managed to track down the Koala Rescue group.

This wonderful volunteer group dropped everything and headed up to Cherry Gardens to see what they could do for the Koala. The lady from Aldinga had stayed and watched the Koala (a female) who by now had limped off into the front yard of a property opposite the golf club and climbed a tree. The Koala rescue people arrived and for around an hour tried to catch the Koala who they could see had a damaged leg with open wounds. They unfortunately were unsuccessful and the Koala ended high up in a Pine tree.

So not at all perturbed by this they got in contact with the MFS and permission was granted for a Big Red Firetruck to come up and help out in the rescue. And so it was that Cherry Gardens road was temporally closed with the traffic being stopped by the CFS while the MFS helped rescue a very sore and confused Koala.

The Koala was taken to a Vet, X-rayed (fortunately no breaks) and the wounds treated and she was put in hospital for a few days and then cared for at the home of the Koala rescue volunteer and then one week later they brought her back to Cherry Gardens and set her free close by to where she was rescued.

If you want to see a few photos and a video of the rescue and her return to the wild check out the Cherry Chatter Facebook page.

A good news story with a happy ending. One thing that was learned is that any open wound on a Koala needs to be treated as it will very quickly get fly blown and this will likely result in blood poisoning and a slow painful death.

So if you see a Koala get hit please stop, keep an eye on the Koala and call the local Koala Rescue team, Steve and Sally on 0490787284. Put the number in your phone just in case!

The Koala Rescue team is part of the Fauna Rescue organisation.

The other contact details for 24/7 care and rescue are:

• Koala HOTLINE - 1300 KOALAS (1300 562527)

• Bat HOTLINE - 0475 132 093

• All other native wildlife HOTLINE - (08) 8289 0896