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Koala Links
KOALA COUNT
                            March 2010



          Perfect conditions and plenty of volunteers make koala count a success

Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) and Park Victoria biodiversity staff are pleased with how the koala count on Raymond Island went last Saturday and appreciative of the enormous amount of volunteer help they had on the day.

DSE Biodiversity Officer, Lucy Clausen said the weather conditions were perfect for over 70 volunteers and 15 staff participating in the count.


“The team leaders did an excellent job organising suitable volunteers for their blocks and getting people on their way in record time - the community hall was almost silent half an hour after the scheduled start,” she said.

The final tally came in at about 4.00pm with a grand total of 295 koalas (102 males, 118 females, 66 unknown sex and nine back young).

“A ‘Guess the Total’ competition has become a tradition of the count over the years and this year’s winner was Linda Garlepp from Melbourne, who was almost spot on, with an estimate of 293.”

The participants for the day were kept well fed by the Raymond Island Landcare Group. Fleming and Nancy Rasmussen  put in a fantastic effort, cooking up a storm on the barbecues.

DSE and Parks Victoria staff will now review the management of the koalas and the vegetation on the island in light of these results.

Media Release

Wednesday,  17 March 2010
Media contact:
Rachel Dawkins
0407 821 153
As most of the clippings come from the Bairnsdale Advertiser it is with gratitude that we acknowledge the importance of this paper in our lives .It would be is easy to dismiss their contribution as just a commercial operation, but over time the staff and management continuously prove that they are committed to balancing their commercial needs with serving the community in our best interest. They do this well ! 
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                                                              June 08
                RESULTS OF LATEST COUNT     July 2011
Hi all,

Following is a summary of past Koala counts done by DSE and PV (or by Peter Mitchell early on). You will note that there is a discrepancy of 3 adults, from the final figure given on the day. This is a result of a couple of adding mistakes on the day and picked up in the double checking.

Some of the blocks were broken up this year for ease of counting and because people opted to count on their own properties. The following is the grouped data so the numbers can be compared across blocks. in particular blocks 9 and 31 were broken up into smaller areas. This information will be assist in deciding on the next course of action for the Koala Management on Raymond Island.

We had more access to some areas were previously we did not have access. This was particularly the case in block 4, 8 and 31 and may explain the greater numbers in these blocks.

I was overwhelmed by the volunteer help on the day as I did not expect such a turn out and we got the count done in record time. I want to thank everyone who helped on the day, in the lead up and those that gave us permission to count on their property.

We did have one rescue on the day with a large male who decided to come out of the tree and walk around behind the hall. This animal was easily caught (which is never a good sign) and obviously underweight. He was taken by one of Colleen Woods carers, Heather, to the Morwell vet.  He was an older animal and had lost a lot of weight since he was last caught in May 2010. He was euthanased and a PM showed renal failure. If left, this animal would have suffered a long and painful death.

regards
L.

Please acknowledge this data as DSE's information