Christmas came early this year to the koalas at the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital.

During a windy storm last week a local, Roger, had a Eucalyptus nicholii tree fall and crush part of his garden.

Nicholii just happens to be one of koalas’ favorite foods. Roger kindly called the Koala Hospital and offered the leaves from the fallen tree to feed the Hospital’s koalas.

Koalas eat about 500 grams of fresh, pure leaves every day, and at times they may also eat bark, stems and the buds of trees. Roger cut just enough branches to feed the koalas at the Hospital each day. He left the remaining branches in the shade and watered them daily to extend the life of the leaves.

There are over 900 different species of eucalyptus trees in Australia and of these, koalas eat approximately 60 varieties. In the greater Port Macquarie area there are around 10 of the species koalas eat which makes finding the required amount of leaf a daily challenge for the Koala Hospital’s leaf collectors.

By making the leaves from his tree available to the Hospital, Roger helped the leaf collectors over a number of days and reduced the harvesting of other food trees around Port Macquarie. Assistant Clinical Director, Scott Castle, said, “The Koala Hospital, its resident koalas and the leaf collectors, thank Roger for his generous Christmas gift.”

He added, “The quality as well as the quantity of the right species of leaves is highly important to the patients recovering from illness or injury. While many local landowners are happy for their koala food trees to be harvested twice a year by our experienced leaf collectors, we still require more trees.

If you have eucalyptus trees in your yard and would like to have the species identified as a potential koala food tree, please ring the Koala Hospital on 6584 1522 during business hours and we’ll arrange for someone to assess your tree.”

The Koala Hospital regularly organizes a free distribution of tree seedlings donated by NSW Forestry Corporation.

The next distribution is in February 2019 and local property/landowners are invited to contact the Hospital now to register their interest in receiving trees.