AUSTRALIAN KOALA FOUNDATION

30 September 2016

Today is September 30th,
Happy Save The Koala Day!.

What a month! Today, we celebrate the end of another Save the Koala Month. Because of you, we feel it has been the best ever. Let us all celebrate what our team has achieved, what you, our supporters have been up to, and say thank you to everyone who shares their love for the Koala.

A message from Deborah Tabart OAM

This year, the AKF is 30 years old. When Lorraine, Ann Sharp and I first started in 1988, we all sat around and thought “gee, how can we get the Koala message out to the world?”, so we had our first Save the Koala Month that year. It seems like yesterday in some respects, but also a very long time ago.

I never, and I mean never thought that I would be still here trying to “save the Koala”. It should have been so simple, but of course life is not that way. I am not going to focus on the problems of the Koala right now - I am going to say thank you for allowing me to come to work each day and for being able to speak for the Koala. Some of the journalists who tirelessly invite me onto their shows, and groups of people who gather together and do whatever they can to help, inspire me every day.

This week, my team and I were at Quinlans, the AKF's bushlands sanctuary, where we celebrated one of our sponsors, Nature’s Path. Stay tuned to a photo album on Facebook from our visit, as well as some videos. It was wonderful to be there during this month, where 'Love is in the air' for the Koalas and everyone who cares for them.

How you you've helped

The AKF would like to thank all the parks, organisations, businesses, and families who have supported our work and helped raise awareness for Koalas this September.

We have been run off our feet with online orders and visits to our Brisbane store. Thank you for all your support to the AKF and helping to raise awareness for the Koalas!

How you've helped this Save The Koala Month

Did you see? Did you hear?

The AKF wishes to thank the community and national radio and television broadcasters, both here in Australia and overseas, for their coverage of the work of the Australian Koala Foundation and The Koala Woman, Deborah Tabart OAM. Here are a few places you may have heard about or seen us this September!

A message from Dave Mitchell, the AKF's Landscape Ecologist

KoalaMap has been up and running for over five years now and has over 2,200 sightings reported by its members in NSW, QLD, SA, and VIC. These sightings are crucial to the AKF's work: not only can we see where Koalas are, we can see how healthy they are (and if they have joeys) and the threats they face in different areas (disease, car strikes and dogs).This data provides us with the information we need to help protect Koala habitat in different areas. It is always gratifying for me personally that when people record the tree species they saw the Koala in that it is on our list of Koala food trees.

The other great thing about KoalaMap is that local residents might see a sighting on KoalaMap and think "that's just down the road!" They will hopefully go out and make some sightings of their own, and might even meet similar-minded people on the way. This helps build community concern about the welfare of "their Koalas".

Every sighting is important, and I’d like to share an example with you today.

Linda contacted the Australian Koala Foundation to report her sightings which go back as far as 1999. Since starting, she has logged 13 sightings, a treasure trove of information. Some of these sightings are in an area (Bellmere, near Caboolture) where the AKF didn't know there were any Koalas.

“Being involved in a shorebird study group for around 20 years I know the importance of getting records into databases”, Linda says. “[These records] are invaluable for helping analysis trends in movement and decline of species. Having fauna sightings in notebooks and in computer files are of no use unless you can get them into databases where they then can become tools for predicting what is happening to our native wildlife and help the survival of all our species.

what your sightings on Koala Map look like

I cannot begin to tell you how privileged we have been to see numerous Koala on our property and at other locations. We need to treasure our wildlife so that the next generations can also be amazed at the unique wildlife Australia has. So, please make an effort to gift these valuable sightings to AKF and other relevant organisations.”

If you are thinking of reporting Koalas on KoalaMap, remember that you don't actually have to see them - if you hear them or even find some Koala droppings, it is all good information which helps complete our understanding of where Koalas are and what they are doing.

Click here to access the AKF’s Koala Map.
Don’t forget to create your account and login to post your sightings.
The AKF thanks you for joining our community and helping our work to save the Koala.

We've loved celebrating Save The Koala Month this year with you!

Please keep sending us your photos, videos, stories, sightings, and more through our website or on Facebook. No matter the time of year, we are thrilled to share what Koala lovers everywhere are doing.

Thank you for a great #STKM2016, see you next year!

DONATE TODAY

The cuddly koalas in the image for this year's Save The Koala Month theme are from the Lone Pine Sanctuary. We send them our sincere thanks for sharing this image for STKM2016.

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