Koala Rescue

Any one out there have any experience with Koala Rescue?

I don't have any experience with Koalas but there are some other Australians on here who might have. Can Koalas be very aggressive? If not, then it might be easier than a cat rescue.

Let me guess. The Koala was some ones pet who decided to climb the tallest Eucalyptus in Queensland.

The ones that need rescuing are usually sick or injured, so their demeanour is unpredictable.
They look and are portrayed to be cute n cuddly, but they are not called bears for nothing.
I have read Treemans blog on cat rescue hoping to get some tips there, although the Koala is very different from the cat.
I'm assuming that the cats being rescued are of the domestic variety, therefore being familiar with human contact.
Koalas are wild animals and won't come to you like a cat will, it is illegal to keep Koalas as pets.
When you get in a tree with a Koala you are on their turf.

I would locate and get in touch with wild animal veterinarians/clinics and/or animal control pros in your area and ask them what the issues are handling koalas. The main question in my mind is how hard is their bite, what can they get through (heavy fabric, leather etc.)? Treeman uses a heavy leather glove with a heavy fabric bag sewed into the glove cuff to grab and bag cats. If a Koala can go through a heavy leather glove than you're probably looking at one of the cinching neck grabs on a pole that animal control people use. For example in the U.S. we have the raccoon, similar sized to a koala, very cute but... you wouldn't want to tangle with one in a dark alley, they'd chew on you pretty good. No way you could get away with grabbing an adult wild raccoon with a glove and bag setup.
-AJ

Well, I didn't know that they could be aggressive and I didn't know it was illegal to have as a pet. After you make your first Koala bear rescue you need to get a bumper sticker that reads "I've tangled with a Koala bear".

Good luck and post pictures please.

Dude, IT'S A BEAR! A WILD ANIMAL! Let it be or call the animal control guys. Then stand back and get some cool vids of the action.

Ron

That would be the safe option , but the animal control guys can't climb.
So they need a climber to get them down, not many people want to volunteer for the task.

Yeah I agree..I am just amazed by the techniques also..That volunteer the tree climbing also.

body kit

About a year ago I got a call to rescue a Koala, Mum and her baby were found wandering across a busy road.
By the time I got there she had found her way into a roadside tree.



Not the biggest tree, but the lack of size proved to be a challenging factor
We tried getting her to come down on her own steam by rustling a bag on a pole above her, but the only way down was past me and she was having none of it. She was blind but could smell me below her.



We could only get her down so far before she went back to her baby in the top of the tree.
Manoeuvring an 8' pole in a tree is quite a challenge.





In the end we decided to cut the branch they were on and lower them to the ground.
All in all a successful rescue, all three of us got down safe and sound

Great pics! very interesting. Did the Koala make any noises?

I was over a year ago so not too sure, there was a lot of grunting going on but I think that was me

I hear ya. Looked like fun.

I recently did some major reduction pruning in a Eucalyptus for my uncle out in San Diego, CA. I was surprised to find that the throw line tended to dig in to the thick bark and get stuck. The wood was very brittle and didn't hinge at all.

Thats interesting about the throw line getting stuck, what sort of euc?
Eucalyptus grow very quickly over your side of the pond compared to here