Spread the Koala Love!
Hello lovely Koala lovers! We hope you are safe and well. We have been loving keeping you updated on all things Koala every fortnight. This newsletter is filled with amazing AKF updates and stories, inspiring (and yummy) fundraising efforts and of course, adorable, cuddly Koalas. Happy reading!
Hero of the Month!
Izzie is our Hero of the Month! Izzie was featured in our last newsletter as we followed her fundraising for Koalas journey. Izzie’s bake sale fundraiser has been incredibly successful. She has raised over $570 EUR to date for the Koalas and their plight. That is absolutely amazing and we are so grateful for all her hard work and dedication. Izzie, you are making this world a better place. The AKF would like to publicly thank Izzie for her fundraising efforts. We are incredibly grateful, this world needs more people like you Izzie!
Save the Koala Month is Coming!
Our favourite time of year is coming! Save the Koala Month 2020 (STKM) is fast approaching and we want our supporters to still be able to celebrate with us despite COVID-19 restrictions. STKM will be a little different this year, but it can still be a festive time where we unite in our love for Koalas. We have been working very hard on a STKM Fundraising Guide filled with some fun and unique ways to become involved and help save the Koala!
AKF Team Visit Little Oakey!
Pictured is Little Oakey. Little Oakey is an undeveloped rural property in South East Queensland predominantly vegetated with remnant eucalyptus forest. Two members of the AKF team, Shaun and Rani took a trip to Little Oakey recently to assist botanist, Derek in setting up detailed monitoring sites to sample a cross section of the vegetation community there, and of course look for signs of Koalas. AKF is happy to report the trip was very successful, as the team in fact found many signs of Koalas, including fresh pellets and marks on trees. The property is dominated by Blue Gum and Stringy Bark trees. After speaking with onsite botanist Derek, we learned the Koalas particularly love the Blue Gum as many fresh pellets were consistently found in all the Blue Gum sites.
Although seeing many signs of Koalas in the property across the days, the team finally spotted two Koalas sitting in a tree right outside of their motel not far from the property! The team were lucky enough to spot some other beautiful wildlife on the trip; two different species of wallaby, yellow tail black cockatoo, gecko and deer. On previous trips, Derek has spotted a dingo and signs of a goanna! The team also catalogued flora and came across some beautiful species, including the hardenbergia violacea (purple coral pea) pictured below. Looking at the image below left, you will notice beautiful greenery shooting up from the bottom of the tree. This area had been impacted by fire and resulted in many trees being burnt. This tree is recovering from the damage through epicormic shooting. When the tree is burnt the epicormic buds are triggered into life and start to grow. Once these sprout, the tree begins to regrow and recovers over time. You can see Derek explaining this incredible process to Shaun in the photo. The trip was incredibly successful, Rani and Shaun learnt alot and truly loved being immersed in nature guided by an incredible expert who taught them along the way!
Koala Joey Just For You!
One of our goals is to keep our loyal supporters updated with Koala news throughout the year. Hopefully, you will have already been receiving ‘Deborah’s Diary’ and Koala Army News and if not you can subscribe on our website. This newsletter is written to celebrate you, our supporters, whilst still showing you very cute Koalas. If you have a supporter story to share please send an email to PR@savethekoala.com we can’t wait to hear from you!