Photo of koala clinging to power pole highlights 'very sad' problem

In a span of 14 hours, Moreton Bay rescuers were called to help three koalas found desperately clinging to power poles.

The female koala clinging to a power pole in Moreton Bay last week. Inset, close up view of the koala.
In a span of 14 hours, members of Moreton Bay Koala Rescue were called to 'totally different areas' to help three koalas up power poles. Source: Moreton Bay Koala Rescue

A striking image of a koala desperately clinging to a power pole has outraged Aussies and brought attention to a “very sad” and serious problem plaguing the iconic marsupial.

The scared “little lady” was found precariously perched on the side of the wooden pole in the Moreton Bay area, just north of Brisbane, last week. Tragically, she wasn’t the only one.

In a span of just 14 hours starting from 5pm on Thursday, members of Moreton Bay Koala Rescue were called to “totally different areas” to help three koalas up power poles, the organisation’s president, Debbie, told Yahoo News.

To save the female seen in the “powerful” photo, rescuers contacted Energex “because she was so high”. “We can’t put our poles up or anything, because of the electricity,” Debbie said.

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Luckily while they were waiting, the koala slowly came down and the rescuers were able to safely grab her. All three were found to be in good health and have been released back into the wild.

While it is not unusual to find the animals in such a predicament, it is strange to have so many koalas rescued from power poles in such a short period of time, she said, pointing the finger at habitat loss.

Yahoo News has been reporting on the displacement of koalas in Moreton Bay since 2020, but the problem has continued to worsen.

“We are seeing that they’ve got nowhere to go,” Debbie told Yahoo. “They’re coming out of what little habitat is left [and] they’ve got no corridors, and the corridors they do have are normally across main roads, though housing developments.”

Left, a koala up a power pole in Moreton Bay in 2020. Right a koala in a high voltage area in Moreton Bay in 2020.
Yahoo News has been reporting on the displacement of koalas in Moreton Bay since 2020. Source: Moreton Bay Koala Rescue

The wildlife carer argued there is not enough “value put on koalas” despite them being classified as endangered in Queensland, NSW and the ACT. The marsupial’s populations in South Australia and Victoria are not endangered.

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“You’ve only got to go past one of the developments — there’s not a tree left standing, it’s just a dirt patch,” she continued.

Debbie said while the need for more housing in the area and Australia overall is obvious, there is a better way to go about it. “Leave corridors, leave some trees standing, you know, work with the environment don’t just knock everything down.”

Aussies were left horrified after Moreton Bay Koala Rescue posted details about the spate of rescues online.

“A very sad scene and how very wrong it looks — not a eucalypt to be seen!” one person commented on the photo.

“That’s appalling, if that doesn’t scream habitat loss I don’t know what does,” another added. “It’s getting worse,” someone else said.

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