The koala cull

[donnashuggy]

Why was it kept a secret?

[vicr3000]

Super

Koalas walk from tree to tree and if lets say houses / roads have been built, like a lot of animals they will

still try to use the old walkways.

Re your last part re pets/dogs, totally agree. Only had to put one down and I always said that the minute

it couldn't walk, eat or pee by itself so quality of life had gone, I'd put her down which is what she did.

The last 12 - 16 hours, if she could see me she was happy and yes, she died in my arms.

[curmu-curmu]

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@vicr3000 wrote:

I don't know if it is suitable or the right type of gum.

But if you introduce them to an area, you are changing the Balance of nature so something else will have to give.

You can't just go willy nilly introducing animals into a new area on a whim. If it was any other species,

the Greenies would be up in arms over introducing it.

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Exactly! There are approx. 900 species of eucalypt in Australia – koalas are known to feed on approx. 40-50 species depending on locality.Not all - just a limited few species.

Of this 40-50, they prefer to limit their diet to about 10. (That's a pretty limited food source, right there!). Koalas will also eat casuarina, paperbark and corymbia leaves. They eat new and mature leaves. So how  many of us know which eucalypt species are available in any given area - and whether they'll be acceptable fodder for the koalas?

I'm pretty sure, that given the hue and cry over a culling, that other options would have been exhaustively explored as first, second and third options.

And as for the Geelong Advertiser...what sells newspapers - good news or bad? They won't be the first newspaper cited for  'journalistic licence'!

[vicr3000]

I know they don't like many of them but didn't know it was that low a number. That does restrict them.

[curmu-curmu]

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@vicr3000 wrote:

They obviously weren't looking in the right place. They don't live everywhere.

Phillip Island for a start, I could name others.

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Koalas wandering the streets of Inverloch are a common enough sight, too.

I'd venture to say that the writer stating he'd only seen them on the GOR, had'nt bothered to look anywhere else!

[***super_nova***]

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@vicr3000 wrote:

Super

Koalas walk from tree to tree and if lets say houses / roads have been built, like a lot of animals they will

still try to use the old walkways.

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yes, i do understand that, but still:  "Koalas are nocturnal marsupials famous for spending most of their lives asleep in trees. During the day they doze, tucked into forks or nooks in the trees, sleeping for up to 18 hours. "  So if one strolls down the mainstreet of a town that has been there for hundred plus years, it is not normal koala behavior.

[curmu-curmu]

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@vicr3000 wrote:

I know they don't like many of them but didn't know it was that low a number. That does restrict them.

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Yup! Sadly, most people, (including aussies who should know better), automatically assume - it's a gum tree. koalas will eat it.

[vicr3000]

Yep.

I acknowledge Super does have a point with their post.

Although interestingly, the times I have seen Koalas on the ground have been during the day.

[bushies.girl]

I have seen them come wadering up the street quite a few time, one had a fav tree next door to me. he/she would come wandering up the footpath and straight up that tree, would sit up there for a few hours and off it would go again.  It's not a new thing in Portland they have been wandering around like that for quite a few yrs.

[vicr3000]

Bushie

When were you in Portland ?

Only ever been once, flew in, flew out, all at night.
Never got to see anything but the grass of the airport LOL
(Military exercise, made enough noise though LOL)

[bushies.girl]

Yeah lived there for a number of yrs, you didnt miss much Vicr ....