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People urged to make their yard koala friendly

INJURED and diseased koalas have left Currumbin Wildlife Hospital full over Christmas.

CURRUMBIN Wildlife Hospital has seen an influx of koalas over the Christmas period.

With two more brought in this afternoon, that now brings the koala tally to 14 in the last week.

All have either been hit by a car, suffer disease or been attacked by a dog.

A seven-year-old koala named Jordan has been recovering from dog attack wounds he received in Ruthven, NSW.

Jordan had a fractured shoulder blade and bite wounds to all limbs and was struggling to climb out in the wild.

Vet Andrew Hill said people needed to make sure koalas were safe if they lived near their habitats.

"We encourage people if they're in a koala area to have something they can climb up on so they can get out (of the back yard)," Mr Hill said.

"The koalas just don't know what to do with dogs and they wander through back yards.

"They have a strong scent and they move differently so they're irresistible to dogs."

The hospital's koala facility, which opened a couple of months ago, is currently full.

Original URL: https://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/news/gold-coast/people-urged-to-make-their-yard-koala-friendly/news-story/6311d93f53a0d066e1aa20eefaa902bb