The New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service is celebrating after the first confirmed koala sighting in years at the Dharug National Park on the Central Coast.
The Daily Telegraph reports that two koalas were spotted on night-vision cameras in the remote park which lies between the Hawkesbury River and Mangrove Creek west of Gosford.
The night vision cameras are part of ongoing routine monitoring in the park, and normally pick up wombats and wallabies, and sometimes performances by lyre birds.
Parks ranger, Sarah Brookes, was checking the footage when she got the surprise of her life.
“I said out loud – ‘oh my goodness, there’s koalas’,” she said. “I always knew they should be there but, until now, I’d never actually sighted one.”
Monitoring will continue and Ms Brooks said she hoped to see more koalas. She said there were known populations in the region in Yengo National Park, around Bucketty and Kulnura and in Parr State Conservation area.
“This time of year marks the mating season for koalas which begins in August and lasts until February,” she told the Daily Telegraph. “This is a time of increased movement for koalas as they leave their trees and disperse, running the risk of crossing paths with cars and dogs.”
Any visitors who see a koala in the wild, are asked to leave it alone and provide rangers with details so these can be recorded.
yes many times throughout nsw and victoria