Coins, a banana peel, and then an apple core were found lying on the ground of an endangered koala enclosure in Australia’s capital. Staff at Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve who collected them have a concrete theory about how they got here.
Its threatened species team leader, Nicole Hill, said staff believe they were thrown inside by visitors trying to get the koalas’ attention or to get them to move.
“Koalas sleep for around 18 to 20 hours a day, and it’s something they need to do, but we think people were trying to get some sort of behaviour out of them,” she told Yahoo News.
The majority of tourists do the right thing when they enter Canberra’s sprawling Tidbinbilla sanctuary, but these isolated incidents over the last three years have sparked concern.
Then, a disturbing act that staff witnessed this year compelled them to up security by installing new cameras and signage around the enclosure.
“We had an incident where someone found a long stick and used it to poke one of the koalas,” Hill said.
There’s usually ample room for koalas to avoid unwanted interactions with humans. Source: ACT Government
Public uproar a ‘disgusting’ tourist behaviour
While security signs have been installed, warning signs about appropriate behaviour have not been.
Hill believes most people would understand that throwing items at wildlife is “not an appropriate way to behave”.
“The best deterrent for them is a camera, noting their behaviour is being monitored,” she said.
Similar controversial acts with wildlife have been observed around Australia, including tourists picking up or interfering with crocodiles, lizards, snakes and marsupials — an American tourist even took a baby wombat from its mother, sparking anger from the Prime Minister.
Before recent troubling incidents security cameras were not needed at the enclosure. Source: ACT Government/Supplied
Government issues warning about behaviour at reserve
ACT Parks and Conservation Service has issued a warning that anti-social behaviour aimed at the park’s animals will be reported to authorities.
“Please help us protect these gentle animals by showing them the respect they deserve,” it said in a social media statement.
Members of the public acted angrily to news of poor behaviour from visitors, with one calling it “absolutely disgusting and disappointing”.
“What is wrong with people, seriously?” another said. “What is becoming of the human race. Are people not taught compassion any more?” another asked.
Koalas usually able to avoid unwanted contact with people
Three koalas live in a large 40-acre reserve, which contains a smaller enclosure with four more koalas that tourists can observe more closely.
“The display enclosure is large enough that koalas can choose if they’d like to move further away from people and have a bit more solitude,” Hill said.
“But often they might fall asleep at the front of the enclosure before people arrive.”
If anyone wants to see koalas moving, it’s suggested they arrive around 1:30pm when the koalas are fed by staff and are generally more active.
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