While koalas in care at Friends of the koala (FoK) may be in the clear when it comes to coronavirus, their human carers are making sure that they stay well enough to keep caring for koalas. 

FoK has announced that tours of its Lismore Koala Care Centre next to Southern Cross University (SCU), are cancelled indefinitely.  

FoK president Ros Irwin said FoK has listened to the advice of experts and are in the process of putting in place a number of measures to protect our staff, volunteers and members of the public from possible contagion.  

“We have a number of volunteers who are in the high risk category and our tours are attended by many international visitors, so in the interests of protecting everyone and still being able to continue our work with koalas, we have cancelled our tours,” she said.

“We are close to SCU and we know the virus is here – and we are not panicking.

“We have a responsibility to make sure we have enough people available to carry out the care for koalas.

“We prepared for the fires and this is another thing we are doing to make sure we can keep on doing it.”