{"id":8471,"date":"2024-09-29T15:18:55","date_gmt":"2024-09-29T15:18:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/2024\/09\/29\/koalas-are-up-power-poles-on-roads-in-schools-why-the-outlook-for-australias-listed-icons-remains-poor\/"},"modified":"2024-09-29T15:18:55","modified_gmt":"2024-09-29T15:18:55","slug":"koalas-are-up-power-poles-on-roads-in-schools-why-the-outlook-for-australias-listed-icons-remains-poor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/2024\/09\/29\/koalas-are-up-power-poles-on-roads-in-schools-why-the-outlook-for-australias-listed-icons-remains-poor\/","title":{"rendered":"Koalas are up power poles, on roads, in schools. Why the outlook for Australia\u2019s listed icons remains \u2018poor\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

One was a koala. The other was a husky. Both were arguably out of place on a warm August night in subtropical Brisbane, the capital of Queensland in Australia\u2019s northeast. <\/p>\n

Home security video captured the moment they locked eyes in a suburban backyard surrounded by a high metal fence. <\/p>\n

With deep rumbling growls, the koala advanced towards the retreating dog, for a moment appearing as the aggressor in an encounter that typically ends with a dead marsupial. <\/p>\n

But not this time. <\/p>\n

From the street, neighbor Sophia Windsor heard growling and barking and raced to the backyard to see the dog shaking the koala by the belly, then the koala grabbing the dog around the neck. <\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t even really thinking, and I just pried the koala off this poor dog, who was now yelping, and then kind of wrapped up the koala then ran back out the front to the driveway where my daughter was waiting,\u201d said Windsor. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd she\u2019s like, \u2018You\u2019re carrying a wild koala.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

Koalas are very hard to see at night. <\/p>\n

Their gray fur blurs with the bitumen on dimly lit roads, and they move deceptively quickly for a marsupial often seen languidly munching on leaves high in trees. <\/p>\n

But for an endangered species whose population numbers are said to be unreliable due to their elusive nature, koala sightings are <\/strong>becoming all too common during breeding season in some areas in and around Brisbane. And not just in trees. <\/p>\n

Day and night, they\u2019re spotted close to busy roads, on fences, up power poles, in backyards, near swimming pools, in schools \u2013 places they aren\u2019t safe. <\/p>\n

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This koala was rescued from the pool area of a suburban backyard on August 6, 2024.<\/span> <\/div>
Sue Minter<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Walter found a perch in a school after wandering across a road on September 4, 2024.<\/span> <\/div>
Hilary Whiteman\/CNN<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Some are on the ground, having been hit by cars or attacked by dogs. Others are clearly sick, with dirty eyes and behinds \u2013 telltale signs of chlamydia, an infectious disease that spreads quickly in stressed populations. <\/p>\n

And koalas in Queensland are <\/em>stressed. <\/p>\n

Experts believe the population declines that saw them listed as endangered in 2022 have not reversed. <\/p>\n

And some fear that by the time Brisbane hosts the Olympic Games in 2032, the only koalas left in the \u201cworld\u2019s koala capital\u201d will be in forests far outside the city. <\/p>\n

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