Posted on 04/01/2022 3:34:45 AM PDT by Candor7
Two rescued koalas treated for a life-threatening disease will be released back into the wild by Queensland researchers as part of a project to help protect the threatened species and improve genetic diversity.
The Living Koala Genome Bank project aims to address the increasing threat of local koala extinction due to habitat loss and disease.
Dreamworld Wildlife Foundation General Manager and University of Queensland Adjunct Associate Professor Al Mucci said he was pleased to see successful results from the conservation effort.
“Two animals have been cleaned, treated for chlamydia infection and vaccinated, and will be released back into the wild where they belong,” he said.
“When these koalas were first brought into our care, one had been displaced due to habitat destruction and would not have survived, so it’s a very positive outcome to see them returning to the wild in healthy conditions.”
UQ’s Associate Professor Stephen Johnston said the koalas would move to a soft-release enclosure in Coombabah Lakelands Conservation Area on the Gold Coast where they could be monitored.
“These animals will provide us with valuable information about how wild koalas that have spent time in captivity thrive after being released,” he said.
The Living Koala Genome Bank project is a collaboration between UQ, Dreamworld, the Queensland Government and Queensland University of Technology.
It uses breeding and molecular technologies developed by UQ, and a chlamydia-proofing vaccination therapy developed at QUT to help future-proof local koala populations.
“It provides practical mechanisms to improve the genetic diversity of populations and assist in developing disease-free koalas to release into the wild,” Dr Johnston said.
“There are currently five joeys growing in pouches that are possible future releases of the program, and will support and potentially improve the genetic integrity of smaller, fragmented populations.”
The program has two important aims that are being tested for the first time.
“Our first aim uses zoos as a breeding centre for the genetic and disease management of local wild populations, while the second explores whether zoo koala populations might act as reservoirs for safe-guarding the genetic diversity amongst local wild populations,” he said.
The captive genome bank is initially focussing on the koala population at Dreamworld with a view to expand to other Queensland zoos to ensure the long-term conservation of koalas in the wild.
A dedicated breeding centre is being built as part of the $3 million redevelopment of Dreamworld’s wildlife precinct.
> treated for chlamydia infection...
I guess those Aussies really love their Koalas.
I like when they released a seal which they had nursed for a year...big media event. 15 minutes later, the seal was no longer transmitting. A couple mil down the drain.
Canada’s Prime Minister is evolving into an ‘El Duce” style tyrant, we are on the verge of WWIII if not already in it, and the price of food is set to triple by September of 2022
and all Canada’s state run CBC radio can broadcast is a live current interview on 3/31/2022 about Koalas going back to the wild in Queensland.
I was amazed to hear this over the air waves, given the current rapsody of disasters facing Canada in the next few months, including a 6th wave of Covid.
So the opiate of the masses is no longer religion, it is feeling all warm and fuzzy with a virtual Koala.
Sigh.
I suppose.
Australia does have this wonderful creature to minister with affection , but millions are spent on it while Children and Women are starving in the Donbas of Ukraine.
Such is the cognative dissonance one must now encapsulate within one’s state of existence.
Its 1930 all over again.
Its amazing how liberal fascism culture works.
An d not only that , they would even fudge the data by having a diver move the transmitter around to say its still working just to save themselves from looking like idiots, its amazing the degree ofprotectio the government gives such idiocy.
Meanwhile the fishery in Newfoundland Cnada is ruined in certain area because the fish cannot breed, too much seal shit on theocean bottom, the movie stars stopped th Canada Annual seal hunt, and the seals are taking over the food chain, eating fish out of nets too...serious problem for native folks, the seals no longer have enough sharks or killer whales as natural enemies.
Eat Seal today! LOL.
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