As data coordinator, I was thrilled to take the opportunity to work with Dr Dan Lunney, Honorary Scientific Fellow at the DPE. Through some funding, a project was set up to examine data around koala rescues, rehabilitation and release. 

One of the data sets used for this project was the extensive Friends of the Koala data.  While we had the largest data set, going back the longest, right back to 1989, there were some inconsistencies in the data due to changes in requirements and staff over this long period of time. I had always wanted to clean it right up, and so on behalf of FOK, I participated in the project voluntarily, by working through the data, with the support of researchers, and doing a big house cleaning. This took around 18 months to complete.

The result is that we now have a lovely clean data house, and the researchers looked at a range of koala issues and have now published peer reviewed papers around: Cause and fates of koalas brought into rehabilitation, survival rates of released koalas, and a state-wide picture of koala rehabilitation during the bushfires of 2019-2020.

Link to article: Lunney – A state-wide picture of koala rescue and rehabilitation in New South Wales during 2019-2020 bushfires.pdf

Katrina Jeffery

Data Coordinator