Koala Sharon and baby Cookie from the unburnt comparison group. Scientists radio tracked Sharon for 927 days. Photo: Robyn Roe, Native Animal Trust Fund

In January 1994 fierce bushfires burnt about 50% of koala habitat on the Tomago Sandbeds in Port Stephens causing high mortality and injury in wildlife.

Among the rescued and rehabilitated victims were Pinky and Spirit, a female and a male koala. Pinky could be released into the bush after 52 days, while Spirit’s recovery took 137 days.

In the same year and for the following decade the Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife sponsored a team of scientists to investigate the fate of the released patients.

Pinky and Spirit were among the first of 16 rehabilitated koalas to be released wearing radio collars and to send data to scientists from the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

They found Pinky and Spirit conquering their old bush habitat, and both animals are still alive today.

Ten years after the project began, a scientific paper tells the success story of their survival, the recovery of their population and the value of wildlife rehabilitation in the burnt, fragmented forest in Port Stephens.

Koala Cinders was released and radio-tracked after 280 days in rehabilitation. She was still alive at the end of the survey. Photo: Robyn Roe, Native Animal Trust Fund

The survey found that there was in fact no significant difference in the survival of rehabilitated and uninjured koalas after fire. Nine rehabilitated and nine unburnt koalas died during the study mainly due to predation by dogs, and old age.

Rehabilitated koalas also reproduced just as successfully as their uninjured counterparts. Each group, the injured as well as the uninjured koalas, welcomed eight baby koalas over two breeding seasons.

The survey proved that rehabilitation of injured koalas is successful not only from the perspective of the individual creature but also has the potential to contribute to the recovery and long-term survival of the whole population after fire.

Rehabilitation will become even more important in the light of increasing development and habitat fragmentation. As the remnants become smaller and more isolated, the likelihood that a fire will destroy the entire remnant increases. The rescue and rehabilitation of every individual koala will matter for the survival of their entire population.