Main image via Daily Mail
After the devastating Australian bushfires earlier this year, over a billion native animals lost their lives and dozens of habitats were destroyed in the process.
Now, months later, nature is slowly healing itself and a family of koalas is finally ready to return to their home.
via GIPHY
A family of five koalas was recently released from the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) back into their home in the wild after 22% of the park was damaged by the bushfires.
Jed, Yellow, Scully, Billa and Gulu finally returned home after a six-month stint at the Australian National University and according to wildlife team leader Dr Sarah May, the animals knew exactly where they were and were excited to be back home.
“Everything’s just coming back to normal, it’s midway through the year and we’re still getting our animals back so it’s just this feeling that we’re finally moving forward,” she said. “We are getting back to a sense of normality.”
As seen in the video, the koala were indeed excited to return with one koala quickly crawling over to a tree to munch on some leaves.
The marsupials enjoy their time exploring their home and discovering the new additions that had been made to their park during the rebuild which include new “furniture” in the form of trees and logs, new clear fencing, a viewing platform and seating to better allow visitors to experience these iconic animals.
The family of five was joined by a new addition – a yet-unnamed joey that was born in March.
“She’s going to pole her head out in a couple of months, they poke their heads out at around five, six months, and that’s when we’ll start to know whether it’s a boy or girl,” Dr Sarah said.
Image via Daily Mail
ACT Environment Minister Mick Gentleman noted that though the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve is now open again to visitors, the nearby Namadgi National Park is still closed due to the ongoing work to clear the bushfire damage.
“We saw the habitat loss and the loss of animals as well, so it’s wonderful to be able to see these animals return here,” he said.
“We’ve seen other animals return recently too, the rock wallabies, corroboree frogs and platypus as well so it’s great to be able to assist nature come back to where it was prior to the bushfires,” he continued.
“The koalas have a new member joining their family, with the Tidbinbilla wildlife team finding a joey in Yellow’s pouch,” he said. “We expect the little joey to emerge from the pouch in a few months’ time ready for warmer weather.
“The koalas were returned in good health to Tidbinbilla in late February and have been housed behind the scenes in secluded enclosures while the team refurbished the public display enclosure in the Eucalyptus Forest,” he added.
via GIPHY
We’re so happy to see these adorable koalas back in their homes! We can’t wait to hear more stories about animals returning to the wild!
Info via Evening Standard + Daily Mail