"A month before, in 2020, I'd seen a newsflash about the bushfires in Australia. The effect on the continent's wildlife was devastating. An estimated 61,000 koalas had been killed or injured among 143 million other native mammals. There were two things I felt I could do from the UK: one was to make koala mittens to protect their burnt paws (following a pattern I found online); and two, I could adopt a koala and send monthly donations to protect them in the wild."
"In January 2023, during a trip to Western Australia, I finally met him. The park rangers, who told me I was one of the few koala mums to have visited, seemed excited to see me. Jarrah not so much. My first view of him was asleep on his perch not surprising, as koalas are flat out for up to 21 hours a day. He was a lot bigger than I'd expected; definitely not soft-toy size, but quite bear-like."
A British donor adopted a koala named Jarrah through the Australian Koala Foundation after the 2020 bushfires that killed or injured thousands of native mammals. The donor made koala mittens for burnt paws and sent monthly donations. Jarrah lived in a wildlife sanctuary near Perth and was followed for two years via progress updates. A January 2023 visit allowed a regulated meet-and-greet; koalas sleep up to 21 hours a day and appear larger than soft toys. During the handling Jarrah, still half-asleep, bit the visitor, underscoring that koalas are wild animals and can be unpredictable.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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