Currumbin Wildlife Hospital has officially released ‘Anne Chovee’, the first wild Gold Coast koala to take part in its chlamydia vaccine program.
The industry leading program, established between researchers from QUT and Currumbin Wildlife Hospital, started trials as part of a lifesaving koala chlamydia vaccine research program in 2021.
The program aims to establish the level of vaccination required within an infected koala population to reduce the overall incidence of chlamydia and improve the associated fertility rates.
To date, the program has seen more than 250 koalas vaccinated and tracked as part of the program. Anne Chovee is the first wild Gold Coast Koala to be vaccinated and released. With lkoalas named a critically endangered species, stabilising and increasing the population is essential to their conservation.
Huge milestone
‘This is a huge milestone for our research,’ said Dr Michael Pyne OAM, Senior Vet at Currumbin Wildlife Hospital. ‘Not only has Anne Chovee remained healthy and chlamydia free, she’s also produced a joey. We’re confident the vaccine will continue to protect her, and she no longer needs to be tracked or checked going ahead.’
One study has vaccinated and tracked about 30 Koalas for an isolated colony in Elanora, with a high incidence of chlamydia. The other study involved vaccination of all Koalas treated and released from the Currumbin Wildlife Hospital.
About 15 percent of these koalas will return to the hospital and be followed up.
QUT Professor Ken Beagley said, ‘At the moment the koala vaccine is considered an experimental product; you can only use it with ethics approval from a university. We now have enough data to show the vaccine is safe and effective, so the next step is to go to registration.
‘Once the vaccine is registered, it will be available more widely, and veterinary clinics and wildlife hospitals will be able to us it without delay,’ he said. ‘This technology will significantly increase our ability to vaccinate wild koalas to protect against infections, a major cause of infertility and population decline.’
Currumbin Wildlife Hospital says the program would not be possible without the generous support of the Neumann Family, Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate, The City of Gold Coast, WildArk, Rotary Currumbin Coolangatta Tweed and WWF-Australia.
Releasing healthy koalas back into small isolated habitat areas is not likely to be successful in the long term. Koalas have been through a genetic bottleneck, and if they are to recover they require safe passage to other koala colonies during mating season. The vaccine is a great help in the short term. Meanwhile they are logging and clearing prime koala habitat in Myrtle and Braemar state forests, where they koalas are known to have somewhat greater genetic diversity, and the associated resistance to disease, as well as other prime koala and greater glider habitat in the region.