New home found for Leon
Three weeks ago Friends of the Koala issued a release about Leon, a healthy 3-4 year old male koala whose world had been shattered by roadworks associated with the Alstonville bypass.
On Sunday 8 August Leon was released in the Coolgardie Scrub. Finding an appropriate release site for Leon involved considerable consultation involving ecologists, Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water (DECCW) personnel, wildlife carers (near and far) and local landowners.
Leon had been observed in Suncrest Avenue, Alstonville, over a period of four days before he was brought in for examination and observation at the Koala Care Centre in East Lismore.
The difficulty for Friends of the Koala was where to release Leon given the disturbance to habitat in the area from which he had wandered.
The licence under which the group operates requires koalas to be released as close to their original encounter location as possible and within a maximum of 2km.
Several factors required consideration, a distance sufficiently far away to discourage Leon trying to return; similar tree species to those he had left; other koalas around but not crowded enough that there would be no space for him; low disease rate; away from roads and other potential hazards; and landowners prepared to keep an eye on him.
“We started off seeking advice of possible locations from within our own membership,” said Friends of the Koala president Lorraine Vass.
“Then we consulted with the Australian Wildlife Hospital, the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital, the Native Animal Trust Fund, and two ecologists familiar with the region.
“We kept cross-checking the advice received with our carers in the Ballina Shire. Finally a property in the Coolgardie Scrub was decided upon as the best proposition to put to DECCW for releasing Leon.
“Pleasingly, the Wildlife Licensing and Management Unit’s response was both prompt and supportive.”
After a very long month in limbo, Leon was released last Sunday.
