It is Saturday night, 9pm, and I have just returned home from attending another koala fatality on Bangalow Road, Byron Bay; not how I envisioned I would be spending my Saturday night after a beautiful morning spent planting koala and rainforest trees in a very safe haven space for koalas.
This poor defenceless, very young female koala was hit and killed coming down Bangalow Road near the golf course within the Koala Zone, where road paint signs warn of active koalas in the area, and within a roadwork area with reduced speed limits.
As the driver who hit this koala, you would have to be aware that you have hit an animal on the road, especially one of this size. Another driver had the awful task of having to pull the deceased/dying koala off the road and call for assistance.
We do not deserve to have koalas living amongst us in our communities, we do not take enough care to drive to conditions in wet weather within koala habitat zones. Do not worry, if the insidious chlamydial disease does not kill them off, drivers will!
My fellow rescuer and I were in fear of our lives as we attempted to rescue this koala off the side of the road, we had headlamps and high-vis gear on, but still drivers did not slow down in the least!
How have we got to this point, that some drivers do not seem to care, and you cannot slow down for people on the road attempting to rescue a precious koala, let alone considering that koalas may be on the road as you drive through their territory.
Why can’t all drivers slow down at night and drive with awareness of koalas possibly being on the road in THEIR territory?
Why can’t we have reduced speed limits within koala habitat zones from dusk to dawn to protect koalas?
Why can’t all drivers slow down in darkened road areas to expect the unexpected, to save a life?
This poor little female koala would not have been more than 3-4 years old, had not had a joey yet herself. So not only did we lose her, but also all the joeys she could have given birth to if she could have been allowed to live.
What a waste of a critical life and all the future joeys she SHOULD have had. It is all just such a waste and a tragedy.
We really do not deserve these trusting beautiful souls that bless our lives.
We must do better than this!
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