Bushwalkers find sick koala on trail near Coomera Westfield

Bushwalkers have made a heartbreaking discovery on the Gold Coast after they spotted a koala sitting in the middle of a walking track.

BUSHWALKERS on a Coomera walking track have made a heartbreaking discovery after finding a sick koala sitting on the trail.

Parkwood woman Rebecca Beggs was on the bush track near Coomera Westfield when she found the koala, which was taken to Currumbin Wildlife Hospital.

It is understood the koala didn’t make it.

“I think he was sick, I don’t know a lot about koalas but I saw him and he didn’t look good, I mean they’re not meant to be on the ground,” Ms Beggs said.

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Heartbreaking. Photo: Facebook

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“They have volunteer people and the council come out and collect them to take them where they’re supposed to be taken, but they just said he was unwell.

“As I said I don’t know much about koalas but it probably doesn’t help that we’ve driven them out of everywhere.”

Griffith University urban ecologist Professor Darryl Jones said it was unusual for a koala to allow humans to approach it sitting on the ground.

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The walkers waited until the koala was picked up. Photo: Facebook

He said while the koala may have been sick, it may have ended up in that particular spot due to their long memory, which allows them to find their favourite trees years after they first fed on them.

But once the tree disappears, koalas can become confused and sit on the ground as if stunned.

In 2018 it was revealed almost half of the 260 koalas relocated from Coomera to protect them from development had died.

The animals were relocated from bushland near Coomera Town Centre between 2008 and 2014.

“The area is being hammered and disturbed,” Prof Jones said of Coomera.

“Koalas have long memories, they know where they used to feed.

“They turn up years later to the same spot, but the tree is gone. There have been plenty of instances, I’ve seen it, where they are sitting bewildered where there had once been a tree before.

“They know exactly where a tree used to be, it’s one of the reasons they are getting into trouble.”

He said the extra stress of habitat destruction could also bring up dormant diseases such as chlamydia.

Every year the Currumbin Wildlife Hospital treats just under 500 koalas.

About 80 per cent come in with the disease, which has wreaked havoc on local populations.