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Gee one was rude, demanded why haven't her humans on a plane already to pick her up, citing she would. As to the press invasions. Obviously no lessons learnt about rights,

The photos I saw on the brumby page were koalas in a commercially planted gum plantation being clear felled with no effort to remove them first. My grandfather 's business in 1940's was felling for timber and firewood. He NEVER cut a tree with a koala in it. No one was allowed to harm a koala Tragic isn't the same now!

There is some video footage of Valerie. She looks amazing! https://www.facebook.com/kangalarescue

Lets not forget that had they brought in suitable skilled rescuers they likely wouldn't have paid them a penny to do days of heartbreaking work to triage, save, euthanise, rehabilitate or relocate any of the koalas, so cost was not a factor in their decision. Probably what was was outsiders seeing the reality of what had happened and how many koalas were harmed and lost. Decisions weren't made about the koalas - they were made to suit the humans, as usual.

Ummm... pademelons aren't generally found high up in trees. (tongue in cheek comment there) What isn't really being mentioned is how much foliage was (or wasn't) on the trees that the koalas were spotted and shot in. If they were all virtually leaf free, then I suppose spotting koalas in them would be easier than usual. That said, triaging from a moving platform at a range of 30 metres or more via binoculars would still be an impossible task, don't you think? Also, if the fire damage in the area was so extensive as to render the trees leafless, then it also stands to reason that undergrowth would also have been removed by said fires too... which should have made on foot incursions to the area less onerous than when the area was in full vegetation, yes? So I'm calling bullsh!t on the supposed reason for deciding on aerial culling as being "too hard" to get to on foot. Pretty sure there were at least dozens, if not hundreds, of wildlife rescuers completely willing to trek in there and do the job with less totally lethal outcomes for at least some of the animals that ended up being killed - and those that did need to be euthanised would have been given some dignity in their deaths. T.

I couldn't agree with you more. Poor management is being kind to them. All they needed to do was to get the rescue groups involved and who knows how many could have been saved. Rescue groups are hugely experienced and would know how to triage and humanely euthanise those who did not stand a chance. I really and truly sickens me how people talk about a "humane approach" when what they really mean is that it's too hard, let's just shoot them all. Although it is a long time ago, this reminds me of an incident when I was volunteering at Sydney Dogs and Cats Home. There was an outbreak of cat flu and the manager of the Home couldn't be bothered to try to manage the situation and said to have all the cats killed. The lady who was in charge of the cats came into the office where I was, obviously in huge distress, and gasped out to me, "They are killing my cats." Luckily before the wholesale slaughter of the cats could take place, the owner of the veterinary hospital to which the Home was attached took charge and put in isolation practices and dealt with the outbreak. Some people are not suited to manage difficult situations and it would seem that people in Victoria are certainly in that category. As for that ridiculous person who was so pilloried on social media, well I agree what she did was totally stupid, but why isn't this horrible horrible event all over social media? How anyone could contract for a job that involved sitting in a helicopter and shooting little animals is beyond my comprehension. And assessed at 30 metres!!! FFS!!!! I would be hard pressed to tell a Koala from a Pademelon at 30 metres let alone whether it was in extremis or not.

To my understanding, they would not have starved to death if allowed access to the plantation nearby. It's poor management and for goodness sake ... the carry-on over that nitwit who picked up a wombat for tiktok .... but we're shooting our koalas instead of better environmental planning.

Death by starvation may be worse. How many animals we loose to unceasing growth

yes, true. From The Guardian Deakin University associate prof Desley Whisson, a wildlife ecologist who specialises in koala management, thinks it was a “merciful, compassionate response” in the circumstances, and one made despite the repercussions. “It’s political suicide,” she says. “It would have just been easier for them to walk away and not do anything.” “This is quite a drastic response,” she says.” But if you’ve got helicopters flying over an area and you see hundreds of koalas that are burnt, or covered in fire retardant, or otherwise showing signs of distress, I think you would want to make a decision to put them out of their misery.” Palma says while the organisation would not like to see aerial killing of wildlife become the norm, euthanasia should be carried out using the approach that causes the least stress to the animal, as humanely as possible, and always be scrutinised. Is aerial culling accurate? Todd says koalas were euthanised only after being individually assessed first, often at less than 30 metres, supported by use of binoculars and other optical aids. He says an initial aerial trial – supported by a ground-based veterinary assessment – demonstrated that aerial shooting was both accurate and humane. According to Todd, a wildlife vet’s assessment during the trial showed that “all koalas assessed and euthanised by the aerial team during the trial were in very poor health and would have continued to suffer in a deteriorating state of welfare if they had remained alive”.

Hope all goes well for him

Booked into Surgery May8th . fingers X

Sadly... yes it's true. T.

I can hardly type these words. The horror, if it is true, is unbearable. I have seen reports from many and varied media outlets that the Victorian Government authorised the shooting from helicopters of Koalas in the Budj Bim National Park, citing they were in danger of starving because of recent bush fires. The reports say approx 750 Koalas have been killed.

Oh ok. I didn't realise she wasn't sighted until recently.

I have an older RC Collie on it, she has been on 4 weekly injections for about 9-10 months now. I was told about the possible side effects at the time, and also met a collie owner a few months ago who was very anti the drug as she felt that is why she lost her collie (they developed cancer after a couple of months). It is scary, but it honestly has made such a positive difference to my girl that I won't be stopping it unless something changes with her. My girl is an old lady - she still plays (albeit only for a little while), and gets very excited when she hears the lead (walks are just a slow potter now with more sniffing than walking) and still has an amazing appetite - so quality over quantity at this stage. I am dreading the day that will ultimately come, and can only hope it is a few years away yet. But is this drug helps, then I will keep using it until (if) it causes her a problem Pic just cos

Hi Boronia! Yes, monthly as advised. One Forever Care boy (Bob) has had 6 so far and hasn't skipped a beat. It's really worked for him. He also takes heart meds and just had his 6 monthly full blood panel which has only improved since his last one, bar 1 age related kidney marker being slightly out. I've got no proof that it would be best to switch back to Cartrophen except for the stories in the article. So will have to quiz the vet. One page I follow on FB 'CavalierHealth.org' has been warning people for a while with quite scary stories. You know how it is though, I can't think of one product that doesn't come with alarming warnings. It's a shame that Beransa was touted as completely harmless according to the article.

Hi _PL_ did your littlies have a second injection after a month? Dandie Zara's vet gave her one and it's made quite a difference but I am wondering if she should have a second injection as well afetr reading that article. Zara is 14½ and unfortunately has a luxating patella and as she has really short legs an operation to take a nick out of her knee joint can be tricky, also he age is a factor as Dandies only live 12-15 years so to put her through that may be too hard on her

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/16UufAW9Dm/ Btw, my two are couch potatoes, don't dig, and prefer clean-ish water.

From what I saw volunteers sighted her (perhaps on trail cameras) in March this year a couple of times in the same area, so were able to commence a targeted rescue. It still took them almost 2 months to capture her. She's obviously been off the radar for a very long time and stopped behaving like a spoilt pet. From memory the owners stayed in the area for weeks searching for her when she first went missing and I guess it gets to a point that without any signs of life, at some point you'd have to assume she's passed to the elements. It would be awful not knowing what happened to your doggo, especially in such a harsh environment.

An island of almost 450,000 hectares! Around half of it is also covered in native vegetation- a lot of it eucalypt forests . The population of the island is around 5,000 people - spread out. It is not the easiest place to search , and she was only sighted a few times, running into the bush if anyone approached . Apparently the owners thought she would die/had died - she is only a teeny little thing after all ...and was very much a cossetted pet .

apparently the dog was dropped off at the RSPCA. Why am I not surprised this happened in Victoria? What a hole.

https://www.news.com.au/technology/science/animals/distressing-moment-dog-stolen-from-dad-on-walk-by-group-of-youths/news-story/442020314d7eaadf9b14d0c9b020730d

I'd like to know why it took so long to get this dog. Did everyone just think she died soon after being lost? After all the dog was on an island.

Amazing outcome! I hope we hear more about her transition back to being a companion animal again as there could be some good learnings for other lost dogs existing in survival mode.

Remarkable story. A lot of hard work and luck went in to making it happen. ABC News