Seventy volunteers of all ages, including 30 year 11 students from Nagle College, worked alongside staff from the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) and Parks Victoria on Friday 16 October to count Koalas on Raymond Island. The Koalas are counted every two years as part of a plan to actively manage their numbers on the island to protect their health and their habitat. This year the head count was 255 adults and 27 young. This is a decrease of about 50 since the 2013 count.
DELWP Wildlife Officer, Leona Waldegrave-Knight said: “The day went very well and we want to say a huge thanks to everyone who gave up their time to help organise the event, feed the troops, count Koalas and tidy up afterwards. We couldn’t do it without you! Now we know the number of Koalas and where they are, we will be checking their health and fertility soon as part of the ongoing management plan.”
