Sticky-fingered koala’s $6000 seed binge inspires local tree planting

Brazen* Claude the koala, caught chomping eucalypt seedlings last year, has inspired animal activists to help him out.

Claude made international headlines in September when he was caught red-handed, munching through stock at the Eastern Forest Nursery near Lismore, in northern NSW.

Claude had been raiding seedlings at night and on weekends when no one was around, costing the business up to $6000 in damages.

“I would never have believed it until I saw Claude sitting there on the pole,” said Eastern Forest Nursery manager Humphrey Herington.

“We all found it quite amusing, but at the same time, he has caused quite a lot of damage and continues to come back and visit the nursery.

“I’m happy we have resident koalas but I’d prefer Claude not to be coming in and feeding on our seedlings.”

Mr Herington said the nursery received a donation to cover “Claude’s restaurant bill” of the 6000 seedlings he pinched.

“Once that happened, we donated those seedlings back to WWF to use in community projects,” he said.

About 500 seedlings have been planted so far in a paddock near the nursery, in the hopes Claude and his friends won’t munch on seedlings designed for sale.

WWF-Australia Koalas Forever project officer Maria Borges said Claude’s naughty behaviour revealed to those in the community that there was a desperate need for food trees.

“This area in the Northern Rivers, especially around Lismore, is heavily cleared and it’s really missing good quality habitat* for them,” Ms Borges said.

“We need to plant more trees and urgently stop tree clearing, especially around the Northern Rivers, which is a stronghold* for koala populations in NSW.

“Through our Koalas Forever program, WWF is working with about 10 local communities, including traditional owners and Indigenous rangers, to deliver habitat restoration and revegetation* projects in the area.

“We’ve funded the planting of about 400,000 trees so far and we’re aiming for 500,000 by the end of the year.”

The seedlings were planted on the farm of Greens MP Sue Higginson, who welcomed the extra plant life and chance to help the koalas in her own backyard.

“We’re in one of the most biodiverse*, rich areas on this continent, but historical clearing has seriously degraded* the area,” Ms Higginson said.

“Living with koalas is an incredibly special, exciting and fun thing.

“The seedlings planted today are in addition to the 10,000 trees we have put in the ground here over the last couple of years.

“We’re doing this because we have an incredible koala population hanging on for dear survival right here.

“We’re certain the trees we’ve planted are making a difference for koalas and the resilience of the landscape.”

While it might take a while for the rest of the seedlings to grow into enough food for local koalas, Mr Herington urged Claude to be patient.

“Claude, if you’re watching this, please come back when they’ve grown into trees, not when they’re in our nursery as seedlings,” he said.

KOALA CAUGHT BRAZENLY PINCHING PLANTS
The game is up for a cunning* ‘leaf thief’ who has munched his way through $6000 worth of tree seedlings at a northern rivers nursery*.

The culprit* behind the daring* night-time raids* at Eastern Forest Nursery in South Gundurimba was finally caught green-handed this week – and it was an unlikely suspect.

For the past two months, Eastern Forest Nursery owner Humphrey Herington had noticed the fledgling shrubs* – being grown for koala habitat restoration projects* – stripped of their new leaves overnight.

He’d thought a possum was behind the theft, however one morning – after a particularly big binge session – the offender* was unable to make a quick getaway.

In the midst of a food coma* sat a large male koala – who Mr Herington has since named Claude due to his big claws.

“One morning we arrived and he must’ve had a big feed that night because he was too full to climb back up his tree,” Mr Herington said. 

“That’s when we realised it was a koala not a possum.” 

For more than 20 years the nursery has been growing koala food trees and now supplies seedlings for koala habitat restoration projects by Bangalow Koalas and the World Wide Fund for Nature, Australia.

Primary food trees including tallowwood, forest red gum and swamp mahogany and secondary food trees including grey gum, red mahogany and grey box are all grown on site. 

And Claude has eaten his way through “thousands” of these seedlings. 

After trying and failing to move a bemused* Claude from the property, Mr Herington is now taking more drastic measures* to protect the trees until they are mature enough to be planted elsewhere. 

“I put a towel around him and moved him a few hundred metres down the road to a big tree at my neighbour’s place,” he said.

“He was pretty stroppy when I picked him up.

“Two days later Claude was back and he’s been hanging around getting into the seedlings every night. 

“I’m in the process now of building a fence around the nursery to keep him out.”

Despite growing food for koalas for the past few decades Mr Herington had not had a koala move into the property before. 

“To me this is not normal koala activity,” he said. 

“However they don’t have too many choices of where they can go to get new food left. 

“There must be a shortage of food around here. There are quite a lot of trees only two metres tall with koalas in them and feeding on them.” 

Head of koala recovery at WWF Australia Tanya Pritchard said South Gundurimba and the surrounding area was notoriously bad for habitat loss*.

“There is definitely an urgent need for more trees so koalas don’t have to go looking for suitable habitat,” she said.

“This behaviour shows that we need to scale up our work which we are doing through koala friendly carbon*. 

“We are planting thousands of trees and hopefully the koalas can wait for them to grow a bit before consuming them.” 

In 2022 WWF funded the local community group* Bangalow Koalas to plant more than 10,000 trees at a farm down the road from Eastern Forest Nursery to help combat the impacts of habitat loss on the local koala population.

The nearby Bruxner Highway is also a “koala kill hotspot*” according to Bangalow Koalas President Linda Sparrow.

Meantime Mr Pritchard will focus on growing a new supply of seedlings for future projects as the young trees Claude indulged in will become bushy plants rather than tall trees.

GLOSSARY

• brazen: obvious, without any attempt to hide, done openly
• habitat: the natural environment in which an animal or plant usually lives
• stronghold: position or place that is strong defended and safe from attack
• revegetation: re-establishing native trees, shrubs, ground-covers and grasses in previously cleared sites
• biodiverse: having a large variety of different species of plants and animals in one place
• degraded: spoiled, damaged, reduced in quality
• cunning: clever and sly
• nursery: a place where plants are grown
• culprit: person or animal responsible for doing something wrong
• daring: bold or adventurous
• night-time raids: going to a place and taking things during the night
• fledgling shrubs: young plants that are just starting to grow
• koala habitat restoration projects: efforts to create a home for koalas
• offender: someone who did something wrong
• food coma: feeling very full and tired after eating a lot
• bemused: confused or puzzled
• drastic measures: serious and extreme actions
• habitat loss: when the place where animals live is destroyed
• koala friendly carbon: efforts to help koalas and reduce carbon emissions
• local community group: a group of people who live in the same area and work together
• koala kill hotspot: a place where koalas are often hurt or killed

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QUICK QUIZ

1. Who is the main character of the story, known for munching on tree seedlings?
2. What was the name of the nursery where this character caused trouble?
3. Why did Mr Herington initially think a possum was behind the leaf theft?
4. What is the nursery’s main goal in growing trees?
5. Why is Mr Herington building a fence around the nursery?

LISTEN TO THE UPDATE

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Wanted sign
Write a "Wanted" sign looking for the leaf thief culprit eating all the seedlings from the Northern Rivers nursery. Include a description of the possible culprit, what damage they are causing and a reward for finding the leaf thief!

Make your wanted sign look like an old fashioned sign that they used to post up looking for criminals.

Time: allow 25 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Critical and Creative Thinking

2. Extension
The article states that Claude the koala was in the midst of a food coma. Have you experienced this? Write an entertaining paragraph of a time when you experienced a food coma and could barely move.

Time: allow 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Critical and Creative Thinking

VCOP ACTIVITY
To sum it up
After reading the article, use your comprehension skills to summarise in a maximum of three sentences what the article is about.

Think about:

What is the main topic or idea?

What is an important or interesting fact?

Who was involved (people or places)?

Use your VCOP skills to re-read your summary to make sure it is clear, specific and well punctuated.