Woman pleads with drivers after 'appalling' find on road to beach

WARNING – DISTURBING CONTENT: A woman has posted a heartbreaking image of a dead koala as a sad reminder for motorists to drive more carefully.

Giselle Geiger was driving along Clothiers Creek Road on the way to Hastings Point on the NSW Far North Coast when she made the “distressing” discovery.

“We were saddened to find a dead koala, a juvenile male that up until a few hours prior was a healthy young koala,” Ms Geiger posted on her Facebook page on Saturday along with images of the koala and her friend Ross Perry.

Ms Geiger said the koala was found along a road “heavily signed as a koala zone” and after examining the body, the pair believed the animal had died from “trauma from the hit and that the koala had internal bleeding,”.

“These animals have such a hard time of survival, in so many ways, I truly find it distressing,” Ms Geiger wrote.

The animal lover said she called a koala rescue group and offered to bring the koala in for a necropsy but the accidents are all too common.

“They registered the death and the place but they have so many dead koalas coming in from car incidents, there was no need for them to have the body,” she wrote.

Ms Geiger shared the confronting image to raise awareness for motorists to slow down in areas populated by wildlife.

“Please take care and be aware of the wildlife when driving. I know sometimes its unavoidable to hit an animal, but it's ok to drive slowly and have patience. It just might help,” she wrote.

People on social media were quick to share their disgust over drivers who refuse to slow down in signed wildlife areas.

“Poor baby, this is appalling,” one person said.

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“Very sad, he is gorgeous, thank you for the share. If one koala is saved or knowledge gained than his death won't be in vain. Slow down people, beware,” one person responded.

“So sad such a beautiful koala so many cars speeding through our area they don't think of the consequences. Thanks for sharing,” another person wrote.

Ms Geiger and Mr Perry placed the young koala under a tree “so nature could take its course” and hope that the message to slow down is heard.

“They really are quite an amazing animal that we do need to protect,” she said.

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