Hello Koala Lovers,

Winter is starting to set in here in Australia and Save the Koala Month will soon be upon us, so if you are planning to having something fun to do please let us know. Did you get to do the new Koala Quiz which shows your personality? I really enjoyed doing it and it gave me the time to really think through how much the Koala means to us all. So gentle but so under threat.

Last week, I saw one of my great heroes Mr. Bob Brown, who is the subject of a wonderful new movie called The Giants, say on TV that he thinks our Australian Government is going to stop logging in native forests. I want to believe this is true and I do hope that it happens soon. In the meantime, I will keep my cynical hat on to ensure that the AKF keeps reminding our governments of their failure with regard to the Koala, and their lack of urgency in getting things changed.

How can they have been doing a good job if the Koala went from Vulnerable to Endangered over the last 12 years?

They will have to lift their game. Of course we are still 100% committed to the Koala Protection Act. No Tree No Me – saving trees is the first step.

A new government has been elected in New South Wales after I last wrote and they are saying they will create a Great Koala National Park. That all sounds incredibly exciting so we watch closely about how and when. As you know the AKF believes very strongly that unless our governments have good maps to ensure that good planning decisions are made, these pledges could fall away as they realise the difficulties involved in such initiatives. That said, I wish them well.

We have also found our Koala Kiss Ranger for the Gwydir Shire who started work with us on the 17th of April. His name is Danny McCudden and we wish him great success as he puts his mark on the position. I am going bush to meet him in person next week and will send back photos of the new team in Warialda. Tracey and Christopher have also joined the team in our Save the Koala Shop and our Online Shop should be back in operation in about a month.

It has been a time of great change for us here at HQ in Brisbane and we think our initiative to have a Kiss Ranger in the bush is going to change things for the Koala.

Fond regards,

Deborah