Koala Diaries

Most Australians only ever experience koalas from afar, looking up into the tree canopy while on a walk. But when Alex Harris spent time with her neighbours, Carolyn Beaton and her husband John, who are koala carers, and saw for herself the koalas waving them over, talking to them and asking for a bottle, or even watching TV, she finally knew what koala carers have known all along - the koala is so much more than we are led to believe.

With experts saying there are no koalas in Western Australia and that koalas don’t drink water (we are already seeing information that challenges these assumptions), we suspect there is a great deal more we do not know.

Membership to Koala Diaries is free, and members now span the country keeping an eye out for, and an eye on, koalas in their area. Search for koalas sighted in your area search on cause of death or injury, view the dynamic map, report a koala sighting in your area, view the member photo galleries and more, at www.koaladiaries.com.au.

There are three key questions relevant to saving the koala - where do koalas live? How many are left? And in what general health? Not a single government department at any level can answer those questions.

“In developing the first national database of its kind, we are mapping the location, population and health of koalas Australia-wide, along with causes of death and injury. From this we are beginning to get a meaningful picture of the state of the koala population. There is no hiding the number of koalas living in areas deemed as not suitable koala habitat or the spread of disease across state boundaries,” says Alex Harris, co-founder and developer of www.koaladiaries.com.au.