A koala had a third encounter with animal rescue volunteers after getting stuck in a fence in South Australia.
The 21lb (9.4kg) male became trapped at an SA Power Networks substation, where staff snapped a photo of him after calling Fauna Rescue’s koala hotline.
The animal, tag number 678, is becoming rather familiar to the rescue team.
In January 2016, they cared for him when he was unwell, and in November that year he was struck by a car.
The team looked after him for a few weeks until he was released, only for him to get into trouble yet again on Tuesday.
It wasn’t a great start to the day for this curious ? who got his head stuck in a fence at our Happy Valley substation. A big thank you to Fauna Rescue SA and our St Marys crew who released the Koala and took him into care for a check-up before his release back into the wild. pic.twitter.com/a6wX60AH6c
— SA Power Networks (@SAPowerNetworks) July 19, 2018
Fauna Rescue koala hotline receives around 2,300 calls a year, mostly in the summer.
“Koalas are not curious animals and stay away from humans unless they are sick and/or in trouble,” said Sally, a member of the koala team at Fauna Rescue.
“During the summer months when the leaves are dehydrated, they will come down looking for water. The leaf is poor quality due to varying reasons and in summer it dries out even further.
“Koalas are under threat from habitat loss, traffic, dogs and disease along with koala management decisions from local and national governments and we try to save as many as we can.”
