BBC Wildlife - UK (2020-04)

ABOVETheVictoriaPolicedrone

unithasbeenprovidingsupport

towildliferescues,aidingthe

operationinGelantipyforseveral

days.Thedronesareusedto

locatethesurvivorsfirst(using

thermalimaging),thentoconduct

visualhealthchecks.

RIGHTThedroneteampinpoints

a survivor.Dronescancovera

largeareaina shortamountof

time,andarethusecienttools

forinitialassessment.However,

thermalimagingtechnologyis

notalwayseectiveonveryhot

days,asthereisnotenough

temperaturedierential.

RIGHTDougwasgranted

accesstoa stretchof

roadcurrentlyo-limits

tothepublic.According

totheauthorities,there

aremorethan8,600kmof

fire-aectedroadslikethis.

“Drivingalong,I sawthis

signandthoughtwhata

sadirony.WhenI turnedthe

engineo, I couldn’tbelieve

howquietit was.Nobirds,

nofrogs,noinsects.Just

thecrackoftheoddfalling

branch.It wasso,sosad.”

RIGHTWhenstressed,a

koalacangotogroundor

movehigher.If it chooses

theupwardsoption,it can

be‘flagged’downthetree

fora healthcheck(seep60).

Expertscanalsoclimbtreesto

collectthekoalas,if necessary,

butcherrypickers– which

canbeusedif theanimalis

neartheroadside– makethe

jobmucheasier.Indeed,if the

platformcanbemanoeuvred

closeenough,thekoala

issimplypickedupby

oneoftheteam.

PHOTO STORY KOALAS

56 BBC Wildlife April 2019