Can you imagine life in the Northern Rivers without koalas?
With the iconic marsupials facing the triple threat of development, disease, and dozy drivers, this is a very real possibility.
Last week saw another vehicle strike on Broken Head Road, the latest in a series of incidents stretching back years.
Fortunately, unlike the death of local koala Moji two weeks earlier, this time the animal survived.
But Friends of the Koala say there is a desperate need for greater awareness in the community, not only to prevent such accidents occurring, but to fight the even more serious threat of koala habitat destruction.
It is with this in mind that the local charity will hold its Save the Koala Day Luncheon at Crystalbrook Resort next Friday (September 27).
The event will also raise much needed funds for Friends of the Koala and its dedicated koala hospital, the only operation of its kind in the Northern Rivers.
The charity must raise $500,000 per year to keep the hospital’s doors open so that it can continue to rescue and treat over 350 koalas each year.
‘Many locals have expressed that, despite living in the Shire for decades, they have never seen a koala,’ Christine Ahearn from Friends of the Koala said.
‘This lack of sighting is not owing to the absence of koalas, but rather a lack of awareness about their presence and the threats they face.
Save the Koala Day
‘The Save the Koala Day Luncheon aims to do something about that.’
The luncheon is a chance to meet some of the volunteers from Friends of the Koala and to hear from one of the organisation’s vets about koalas in the Northern Rivers.
The meeting will also feature a special guest speaker – business leader-turned environmental campaigner, Geoff Cousins AM.
As an environmental activist, Mr Cousins is best known for his contributions to successful campaigns to stop the Gunns pulp mill in Tasmania, and the proposed Woodside gas hub in the Kimberley.
Currently, he is pushing to halt logging in what is to become the Great Koala National Park on the NSW Mid North Coast.
His speech at the luncheon promises to be a clarion call for action to protect koalas in the Northern Rivers and beyond.
The lunch will take place from midday to 2pm on September 27. Tickets are available for purchase at friendsofthekoala.org/save-the-koala-day-lunch/.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
