Koalas drinking from human hands is not normal

I am a beef cattle farmer from near Inverell in north-western NSW. My farmhouse is near a creek line and I’ve always been lucky enough to have koalas.

Farmer Libby Swan with one of the koalas that come for water at her north-western NSW farm.

Occasionally I spot one in the trees around my yard or listen to their calls during the night. They’re sleepy and content and I’ve even seen mothers with their babies. But now the trees are thinning, sky visible through leaves that should carry essential moisture for koalas. When gum trees start to drop leaves, that’s when it becomes serious. For our resident koalas, it means losing their food and water supply.

Last week my husband and I found a male koala in the yard, sitting at the base of the tree. He wouldn’t move, not when I walked up and not when I set a pot of water next to him. In the end I had to raise the pot to his head and finally he moved, leaning down to drink.

Up close, the claws of a koala are pretty sharp. Not wanting to test my luck about being near a wild animal who was clearly stressed, I tried to put the pot down so I could leave him in peace. He grabbed my hand. "Don’t take my water, stay with me," he was saying and so I stayed, not moving, his hand still resting on mine as he drank. For half an hour we sat like that.

Everything inside me was saying this was wrong. Wild animals avoid humans; they don’t ask them for help. All I could do was say, I’m sorry. I couldn’t believe what was happening to him, to all of them. I was seeing first-hand how this drought was slowly killing one of Australia’s most resilient animals.

Finally, I managed to balance the pot so the koala wouldn’t spill it and left him to continue drinking. It was another hour before we spotted him wandering off to a tree. We’ve kept an eye out for him since and are happy to say he’s still around. Every time we see him we put another pot of water out.

But koalas aren’t the only animals that are altering their behaviour around here. Climate change is affecting all wildlife. We now have a resident echidna who often visits our garden, at least what’s left of it. The snakes are coming in force, looking for water and it seems to be that all the animals are happy to crowd in with us now. This includes Eastern rosellas, the odd crimson rosella, redwings, and the shy king parrots that have taken to eating our grapes off the vines on our verandah. They used to fly away whenever they saw us; now they just watch as we walk by.

Out in the paddocks, it’s worse. We still have dry standing grass, but all it’s doing is holding the soil together. We still have water, but it’s quickly disappearing. We still have kangaroos; in fact they’re coming in off the scrub to drink from our last water points. We counted 50 kangaroos around one of our last paddock dams, which has turned into a paddock pond.

Will we one day look back on this drought and think it was a small one?

Every year brings different challenges. Looking back, I’ve never experienced a drought like this. It really makes me think about the speed of the changes in our climate and our slow-footed response.

Australia has already warmed by one degree Celsius, and the Bureau of Meteorology tells us they are seeing long-term reductions in NSW’s rainfall. What will my paddocks look like when our country is two degrees warmer? Or three degrees? Would we even bother leaving the farm to the kids? Will we one day look back on this drought and think it was a small one?

Australia is known for extremes, but not like this. People say that Australia has always had droughts, but the drought cycles are inching closer together, bouncing from one drought to another with few "good times" in between. The rain that’s hit us now is not enough. I know this drought is far from over.

We need a government willing to listen and act, provide help in crisis and ensure the safety of people and animals. That is the pact we make when we elect them.

We don’t want them to throw money at publicity stunts and one-off projects. We need support to change our practices so the environment becomes a priority and we build resilience to drought. We want help that will make a lasting change.

Putting pressure on our politicians is what we can all do to help farmers and our wildlife. Voices matter. I urge you to make yours heard today.

Libby Swan is a beef cattle farmer.