Lismore’s Friends of the Koala has publicly thanked a local 12-year-old who has raised about $9,000 to help the native animals.

Maddy Paice, from Newrybar, raised most of the money - which she splits between Friends of the Koala and Bangalow Koalas - by making and selling beeswax wraps at local markets.

Her mother, Nikki Beaumont, described Maddy as a “mini Greta Thunberg”.

“She spends her evenings and weekends and mornings making the beeswax wraps, because it's very time consuming, and then she's at markets selling them,” Nikki said.

“She puts in a lot of hours.”

In a post on the Friends of the Koala Facebook page, the organisation described Maddy as “incredible”.

“If only everyone had her determination to help save koalas - it is greatly appreciated and is truly inspirational!” the post said. “Thank you Maddy!”

Nikki said Maddy started out making the beeswax wraps about a year ago as family gifts, but made too many and decided to sell them and donate the money to the koalas.

“We ended up selling more wraps than we had and so had to make some more, then a shop got in contact about selling them,” she said.

Maddy also raises money by selling eggs from her 18 chickens to neighbours and friends and busking in Newrybar.

For the past two years, instead of birthday presents she’s asked for donations to be made to Friends of the Koala and Bangalow Koalas and now she wants to plant koala food trees on the family’s 100-acre property.

“Her fascination isn’t specifically with koalas, she just loves wildlife full stop,” Nikki said.

“She has done all the training to become a WIRES volunteer but is still too young

“She’s passionate about wildlife and climate change and the environment and trees and really wants to be an advocate.”

Maddy’s beeswax wraps are available from Luther & Co in Newrybar, the Bangalow Post Office and the Lennox Vet or you can buy them directly from her and Nikki at markets around the Byron and Bangalow areas.