Koala Koala – we love you
But we chop down your home
And you run
Koala, Koala – where do you go
When we take your gum tree away?
Please don’t run on the road
And please don’t cry
Help is on its way
-John Williamson ‘Koala Koala’
Growing up, Australian kids learn the amazing fact that koalas never need to drink water. The name ‘koala’ derives from the ancient Dharug* or Iyora Aboriginal languages’ word for them, which some have said translates as meaning ‘no drink’.
Usually this is the case, but recently there have been quite a few instances of them being caught on camera having a sly drink…of course there are more cameras around nowadays, but also the recent drought has meant the eucalyptus leaves contain less than their usual amount of water (normally about 55%). Habitat destruction also gives animals less options to move on when times get tough and bushfires of course are another threat to our little mates.
It seems that recent conditions are just more than a koala can bear… Almost as bad as that joke, even! (They aren’t actually bears btw, they are marsupials which means they carry their tiny babies or ‘joeys’ in a small pouch with an incuded milk bar.)
South Australia has suffered some terrible bushfires recently, but despite the extra workload the good folks at Fauna Rescue managed to get a volunteer to take this one year old girl to Adelaide Animal Hospital overnight for evaluation, fortunately she was found to be healthy and soon released.
It seems that running onto the road might sometimes be a good survival strategy
-but please take care, Blinky and Nutsy!
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Our policy is to Rescue, Rehabilitate and Release.
We have all kinds of native species coming in for care: Pelicans, birds of prey, Magpies, Parrots, ducklings and nectar feeding birds like Honeyeaters, Wattlebirds and Lorikeets.
We also care for wildlife such as Possums, Kangaroos, Echidnas, Bats, Reptiles and Tortoises.
Each year we rescue around 2,000 animals/birds & reptiles.
Over the last few years there has been a huge increase in the amount of rescued wildlife coming in to Fauna Rescue. Due to this we need to raise more funds to cope with our spiralling costs of caring for wildlife. Some of these costs include veterinary care, first aid equipment (medication, heat pads etc), specialised dietary requirements, possum nesting boxes, kangaroo compounds, aviaries, cages and day to day running expenses.. We already spend many hours a week fundraising but are falling short of monies needed.
Thank you, John Williamson, I’m gonna send in some money today.
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What all the kool koalas drank out of in the eighties:
*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharug_language
Examples of Dharuk words (spoken in the region now known as Sydney) that have survived in English are:
Names of animals: dingo, koala, wallaby and wombat
Trees and plants: burrawang, kurrajong, geebung and waratah
The tools boomerang, a word from the Turuwal sub-group, and woomera (spear-thrower)
52 charities - 52 weeks 