Scientists who had been looking for koalas in the Blue Mountains began to make exciting discoveries, but then the great fire in the Gospers Mountains tore apart the ancient forest.
Key points:
- A new app will help Blue Mountain residents save the lives of koalas and other wildlife
- Link people with information on how to help wildlife and who to call
- It is hoped that the Help Wildlife Near Me app, if successful, can be used in all areas affected by natural disasters
Kellie Leigh had been looking for endangered marsupials with her professionally trained chess search expert and her border collie, Grut.
“We had a real story of hope to begin with; we were finding koalas where we didn’t expect, using tree species we didn’t think we could use,” said Dr. Leigh, executive director of Science for Wildlife.
“Everyone … thought, ‘Oh, there are no koalas in the Blue Mountains, and if there are, there won’t be many because it’s a sandstone country.’
Dr. Leigh said the world-renowned icon was widely hunted for its skin in the Blue Mountains in the 1800s.
Dr. Leigh found evidence of koalas in an unexpected place, then a mega-fire ravaged the area. (ABC News: Kathleen Ferguson)
“There are very old newspaper records of people going out through Hazelbrook and the low mountains and shooting koalas for the fur trade, so the numbers were really low,” he said.
According to research by Science for Wildlife and other agencies, it is estimated that there are between 1,000 and 3,000 koalas in the area declared a World Heritage Site.
“The golden question is how many there were and how many there are now,” Dr. Leigh said.
“We were still trying to figure it out.”
When help hurts more than good
Dr. Leigh with Blue Mountains resident and volunteer Kat Boehringer. (ABC News: Kathleen Ferguson)
Naturally, people tried to help when the fire ravaged the mountains.
But some people didn’t know how to help and unfortunately some may have done more harm than good.
Viewers gave the koalas water from a bottle, which Dr. Leigh said they clearly had the best intentions for.
But he said this could cause health complications because the animals do not drink this way normally.
“There was a real lack of information in the communities. A lot of people were forced to pull information from the internet, which was often misinformation,” he said.
To help provide people with the right information and help recover the number of koalas in the Blue Mountains, an app has been created specifically for the area.
The Help Wildlife Near Me app has received support from several agencies and is funded by Landcare NSW. The federal government has gone online to support the pilot project.
Application to help save the lives of animals
The Help Wildlife Near Me app has been created specifically for the Blue Mountains. (ABC News: Kathleen Ferguson)
Science for Wildlife has dubbed it the “first of its kind” because it was created specifically for a location and its residents.
Landcare New South Wales CEO Turlough Guerin said the app’s information could be the difference between killing an animal or surviving a crisis.
“This app will save countless animal lives and improve the resilience of the community and the environment after disasters like the black summer forest fires,” he said.
It could be used during emergencies to give people the right tools to help wildlife and link them with information about agencies and groups around them, and what they can do in their day to day life to support native animals. its area.
“It becomes a one-stop shop for the community to know if they want to help wildlife, they can just go on and learn how to do something in the backyard, or they can sign up to participate in a project,” Dr. Leigh said.
Help animals and communities recover
Kat Boehringer finds healing power in helping native animals recover from fires. (ABC News: Kathleen Ferguson)
It was a Blue Mountain resident resource and Science for Wildlife volunteer that Kat Boehringer would have found useful during the forest fire emergency.
“At the time, we wanted to help but we didn’t know what to do,” he said.
Ms Boehringer said an app tailored to her community was an important step in giving residents a certain agency.
“You know, a big fire coming in, I think you feel a big loss of control and it’s really empowering to know that there’s something you can do on the ground to help,” he said.
“It’s definitely been part of my recovery.”
It is hoped that the application, if successful, can be used in all areas affected by natural disasters.
“Especially under climate change, where we are already seeing all these extreme weather events, there will be an increasing need for this kind of long-term strategic coordination,” Dr. Leigh said.