WildArk and Aussie Ark to rewild a population of koalas on Mongo Valley Wildlife Sanctuary

An ambitious project to rewild a population of koalas on Mongo Valley Wildlife Sanctuary in Upper Mongogarie, NSW has been launched by conservation organisations, WildArk and Aussie Ark, in partnership with Australian ice-cream brand Connoisseur and UK ice-cream brand NUII.

The Koala Rewilding Project is putting koalas back into the wild by creating a captive koala breeding program for wild translocation onsite at the Mongo Valley Wildlife Sanctuary in Upper Mongogarie NSW, just 30km from world heritage listed Mallanganee National Park.

Koalas face numerous threats, including disease, car strikes and dog attacks, not to mention the 2019/2020 bushfires that decimated millions of hectares of koala habitat, killing an estimated 61,000 koalas.

Tim Faulkner, president of Aussie Ark advises “we all want to save koalas from becoming extinct in the wild but that battle is being lost, so a model of captive to wild is a critical step to being able to replenish wild populations and keep this species in the wild.”

Koala enclosures created with the help of Connoisseur and NUII, will be used as short-term holding and breeding facilities. From here, the koalas will be transported to a soft release area within the broader sanctuary. This soft release is critical to the koalas to establish appropriate wild behaviours and skills, prior to return to the wild in protected areas.

The Koala Rewilding Project will also assess, manage and protect the potential wild koala population that currently resides on Mongo Valley, by performing baseline population surveys as well as undertake broad scale habitat rehabilitation and rewilding projects.

Intensive weed, fire and feral animal management will ensure koalas have safe and healthy habitat while the project aims to contribute 4000 eucalyptus trees to the large scale tree-planting project that is on-going, on the property.

Kirstin Scholtz, General Manager of WildArk adds “Mongo Valley Wildlife Sanctuary is prime koala habitat so it has been sad not to see many koalas in the wild here. We are incredibly excited to be working with Connoisseur and NUII to help protect one of Australia’s most iconic species and ensure future generations see koalas in the wild.”

Mongo Valley Wildlife Sanctuary was secured for protection by WildArk, Aussie Ark, Re:Wild and The Australian Reptile Park. It is in one of the most biodiverse regions in Australia reflected by the diversity of vegetation communities which support a range of mammals, birds, reptiles, frogs and invertebrates. The area includes a range of vegetation types including dry and subtropical rainforest, wet and dry sclerophyll forest and isolated heath communities.

The Koala Rewilding Project holds so much hope for koala conservation. You can support koalas by donating today