AN Ormiston developer has denied his housing estate sub-division led to a koala being euthanised after it succumbed to stress-related diseases.
Fiteni Homes land development manager Adam Souter said the koala, nicknamed Ivory by nearby residents, had been ill since October, three months before 27 koala trees were cut down on his land.
“While the euthanising of the koala was a tragic outcome, the assertions it became ill because of our fence or the collars placed (around the tree trunks) … is another fabrication,” he said.
Mr Souter said his company found out Ivory was sick when the state government-run Daisy Hill Koala Centre asked permission to rescue it from the Wellington Street site in October.
Vets from the Daisy Hill Koala Rescue Centre were allowed on site but were unable to catch the four-year-old female koala as she was too high in a tree.
Resident koala advocate Judy Rose said Daisy Hill Koala Centre staff said they were unable to return for Ivory while she was on private land as the property was fully fenced and too difficult to gain quick access.
She said the animal remained at the site until January 30, when the trees were cuffed for felling by contractors.
Later that evening, Ivory was spotted on the ground in nearby Ivory Lane in a “distressed and disoriented” state.
Redlands After-Hours Wildlife Rescue caught the animal and took her to the Moggill Koala Hospital where she was diagnosed with stress-related diseases cystitis and Chlamydia and put down on January 31.
“This koala remained at the site even when the first mound of dirt was put there by the developer,” Ms Rose said.
“We suspect that when the tree cuffs were attached on the Friday, (January 30) Ivory finally moved out of the tree and wandered into Ivory Lane in a distressed and disoriented state. To say the development did not contribute to her stress is a cop out.”
But Mr Souter said the koala died from cystitis and Chlamydia, not from stress caused from ground works, “collaring” trees, fencing, tree lopping or land clearing.
He said a professional koala spotter at the site for 14 days before the collars were put on the trees found no koala activity.
“In all likelihood, the koala continued to suffer from chlamydia and cystitis up until its capture on Friday (January 30),” he said.
“The initial reports and attempts to capture were a month-and-a-half before we came on site to install fencing, the proposed reason the koala was stressed.”
Mr Souter said photographs taken the day ground works commenced at the site in mid-October showed Ivory already had symptoms of Chlamydia and he said fencing was not installed until late December.
Redlands-based Koala Action Group’s Debbie Pointing said Redland council and the developer did not want to acknowledge the truth that habitat loss was the biggest killer of koalas.
“What they allowed to happen at Ormiston was simply cruel,” Ms Pointing said.
“There is a misconception in council that if a koala loses a few trees, it will just move to some others but they are creatures of habitat and will come back to the same trees in their home range all of their life.
“When they are forced to move into another koala’s home range, it places them under stress as the dominant male won’t accept other males and there is competition for food.
“In my opinion, the stress would have started for Ivory once changes started happening on the development site especially when the six-foot security fencing was placed around the entire site which made the trees very difficult for her and any other koalas attempting to reach the trees.
“Once they collared the trees, this would have caused extreme confusion for her as she was trying to climb a tree she had regularly visited.”
Ms Pointing said there was no documented evidence of how long Ivory was sick but she had had a baby which would not have been possible with the diseases.
The koala activist has contacted the RSPCA to ascertain whether the wide cuffs placed around the base of the gums, was an act of animal cruelty.
