The Tagging & The Catching - 29th to 30th April 2011

Woke up this morning to the clanking of pots and pans in the Kitchen looks like Deidre was up early again getting ready for her walk. My mind wondered about what today would be like in regards to how we would go about catching the Koala's.  This I thought would be very challenging given how high some of them were up in trees.

With breakfast done and out of the way we made our way to the field where we would spend the day catching, tagging and fitting Koala's with radio collars along with accelerometers. The radio collars would allow us to track koala's movements and observe koala's. Data downloaded from accelerometers will provide a measure of energy expenditure by individuals of koala's and fitted for up to 7 days. These Koala's will be monitored at regular intervals during the year to determine seasonal movements and home range.

After our team briefing on koala capture (flagging the koala down the tree) and handling techniques we were given hands-on training in restraining the koala for measurement and/or device fitting.  We headed off to find our first subject.  Once located we needed to ensure that we all were wearing hard hats as branches could break and fall when catching the koala.  There are 2 types of catches :

Ground Catch - this is a fairly easy catch which can be done from the ground

Tree Catch - this is more labour intensive as it requires climbing a tree with a winch and using flags in the tree to bring the koala down

We located our first Koala this would be a Ground Catch.  Desley and Alistair were the main catchers due to their experience and as volunteers we assisted as directions were given to us during the capture. The koala was approx 7 metres up the tree and resting on a branch.  Desley & Alistair extended the flag poles (approx 6 metres) with plastic flags on the end.  The technique was to get the flags as close as possible to the koala's face and shake the flags in front of their face.  The noise and along with flags was enough to scare the koala and the koala would commence backing down the tree backwards. This technique was repeated many times until the koala was at a level that could be handled.

                                     

                                                                  

Once caught the koala was gently put into a sack and carried back to our camp where we would weigh the koala whilst in the sack (the koala moved very little whilst being carried and we needed to ensure that the koala's back was against our back so that if the koala moved during transportation we would not be scratched). The weight of the sack was taken into consideration to ensure that we had a correct reading of the koala's weight.

Weighing the Koala

The next step was the most challenging restraining the koala on the ground. Whilst the koala was in the sack we placed the sack and the koala on the ground (with their limbs on the ground), with one hand we held onto their neck whilst we knelt down on the ground holding the koala between our knees and the other hand around their neck. This gave me the ability to restrain the koala's body and at the same time allowed me manoeuvre the koala.  It was important not to sit on the Koala.  Once restrained I would open up the sack and bring the koalas head out with one hand out whilst holding the sack,  with the other hand around the koalas neck (similar to a bib), this allowed Desley/Alistair to complete some tasks such as head measuring, looking at the teeth to determine the koalas age and feel the koala's body to ascertain the condition of the koala (koalas have a great deal of muscle with very little fat). The last action was to place a radio collar around the koalas neck. This meant that a recorded number along with other details was programmed to the radio collar which corresponded with the koala that had been caught for future tracking. These radio collars are battery operated and can last up to a period of 3 years.



Checking Koala's Teeth



 

Measuring Koala's Head

Once these actions were completed the koalas head was covered up with the sack.  It was then necessary to take the koala back to the tree where the koala was captured as koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) are territorial.  To keep the stress levels of the koala at a minimum the maximum time that we could restrain the koala was 45mns ( I am pleased to say that our experiences only reflect a maximum time limit of 30mns.

Koloa with Radio Collar

During this process data sheets were completed making note of the tree and its height that the koala was captured in, the weight and head length of the koala, age of the koala, overall condition of the koala, the type of catch and also how long the catch took . It is interesting to note that the Victorian Koala is much larger than their relatives in Queensland.  The heaviest Koala we caught was approx 14kgs, in Queensland the heaviest koala would be 9kgs.

The catching of the koalas up the tree required great skill and patience.  Desley would gear up with her safety harness and with a rope would winch herself up the tree to a stable branch which great required strength and was labour intensive.  Once Desley had stabilised herself she would proceed with the flagging poles and commenced the ardours activity of flagging the koala's down the tree.  At times the koala would become quiet angry with the flagging poles and would try to eat the flags or would lash out at the flag pole.  Sometimes the koala would try to go further up the tree which required a all hands on deck approach to ensure that the koala would come down instead of climbing further up the tree. Once the koala was caught the same procedure as above would apply.

In the event where we attempted to catch a koala that was injured we would not proceed with the capture we would let the koala go. In addition if a koala weighed less than 6kgs we would let the koala go as they were considered too small to put a radio collar around their neck. The reason for this was that the koala could lose the collar if the collar was too loose or alternatively as the koala grew the collar could end up being too tight and could result in the koala being chocked.  When catching koalas some of us had a koala shower - you might wander what this was see if you can guess !!!!!

We each took turns of restraining the koala's. When it was my turn to restrain the koala I was very nervous.  My koala was very strong as he weighted approx. 13kgs and was quite big.  I managed to restrain the koala and had a feel of his fur.  The fur was very, very soft and surprising he was very quiet when restrained. I got to name my Koala and I named him Nelson.  On these 2 days we caught and collared 10 koala's a great number to work with.



Nelson & Me

 The day ended with us talking about koala's who now all had names and had an identity. We ate heartily casserole and butterscotch pudding. Nothing like some comfort food after being out all day.