BY ALEXANDRA REES
Aussie Ark has conducted a broad-scale koala population survey in their Barrington Wildlife Sanctuary using thermal drones to count the animals.
Operations Manager Dean Reid says they spent five nights in the field, in freezing conditions.
"Aussie Ark, along with our partners WIRES and the veterinary teams from the University of Sydney, went into our Barrington Wildlife Sanctuary, which is a 400 hectare predator proof sanctuary looking for koalas," he said.
"We've seen a couple on camera traps so we knew there was a population in there, but we didn't know how big it was, so we wanted to get the data and obviously see how the koalas are doing up in the Barringtons."
The survey helps determine the abundance of koalas in the area, as well as testing to check for the presence of diseases such as chlamydia and retrovirus.
Mr Reid says these kinds of surveys are essential to sustain the koala population.
"It's really important these surveys happen, because the koalas are in huge decline," he said.
"We didn't know there was such a population up in the Barrington Tops and it's really good to see there is a thriving population there."
"It gets a picture and a window of maybe new genetics, disease-free if they are, which is really important for the koala population and Aussie Ark."
