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An analysis of the long-term trends in the records of Friends of the Koala in north-east New South Wales: II. Post-release survival

An analysis of the long-term trends in the records of Friends of the Koala in north-east New... ContextPost-release monitoring of rehabilitated koalas is lacking, meaning that the long-term success rate is unknown.AimsWe addressed the question: will a koala released from rehabilitation re-join the wild population and survive for months, if not years?MethodsUsing ear tag records as unique identifiers of individual koalas, we sifted the 31-year set of 5051 koala admission records (1989–2020) of a koala rehabilitation group, Friends of the Koala, in Lismore, north-east New South Wales for records of koalas that had returned to rehabilitation for a second, third or fourth time.Key resultsOf the 1771 koalas that were released, most (80%) had a coloured ear tag with a unique number. Of these koalas, 270 were admitted to rehabilitation two or more times and therefore represented an opportunity for post-release monitoring. Re-admission figures mostly fitted the pattern of first admissions, meaning that the released koalas had become part of the local koala population. Of the 270 koalas that were re-admitted into rehabilitation, 66% remained for more than 6months in the wild, and 33% remained in the wild for more than 2years.ConclusionsWe conclude that rehabilitated and released koalas can survive in the wild long-term, even though some koalas were re-admitted after a very brief period post-release.ImplicationsThe success of rehabilitation and release, as judged by re-admitted tagged koalas, is a more robust view of success for koala survival after rehabilitation than simply the proportion of released versus non-released koalas. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Pacific Conservation Biology CSIRO Publishing

An analysis of the long-term trends in the records of Friends of the Koala in north-east New South Wales: II. Post-release survival

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Publisher
CSIRO Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s). Published by CSIRO Publishing
ISSN
1038-2097
eISSN
2204-4604
DOI
10.1071/PC21077
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

ContextPost-release monitoring of rehabilitated koalas is lacking, meaning that the long-term success rate is unknown.AimsWe addressed the question: will a koala released from rehabilitation re-join the wild population and survive for months, if not years?MethodsUsing ear tag records as unique identifiers of individual koalas, we sifted the 31-year set of 5051 koala admission records (1989–2020) of a koala rehabilitation group, Friends of the Koala, in Lismore, north-east New South Wales for records of koalas that had returned to rehabilitation for a second, third or fourth time.Key resultsOf the 1771 koalas that were released, most (80%) had a coloured ear tag with a unique number. Of these koalas, 270 were admitted to rehabilitation two or more times and therefore represented an opportunity for post-release monitoring. Re-admission figures mostly fitted the pattern of first admissions, meaning that the released koalas had become part of the local koala population. Of the 270 koalas that were re-admitted into rehabilitation, 66% remained for more than 6months in the wild, and 33% remained in the wild for more than 2years.ConclusionsWe conclude that rehabilitated and released koalas can survive in the wild long-term, even though some koalas were re-admitted after a very brief period post-release.ImplicationsThe success of rehabilitation and release, as judged by re-admitted tagged koalas, is a more robust view of success for koala survival after rehabilitation than simply the proportion of released versus non-released koalas.

Journal

Pacific Conservation Biology – CSIRO Publishing

Published: Apr 1, 2022

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