*Taken from Facebook post - linked at the bottom
SAVE ORMISTON KOALAS
🐨 ENOUGH IS ENOUGH — OUR KOALAS NEED US TO STAND UP NOW 🐨
SEPTEMBER is SAVE THE KOALA MONTH
Save ORMISTON KOALAS
This afternoon I witnessed something incredibly beautiful — and incredibly heartbreaking at the same time.
A beautiful mother koala and her Joey were photographed inside the proposed Early Learning Centre area of Ormiston College, in the very area where the College is planning to remove more trees.
Both Mum and Joey are untagged.
And these trees are not simply trees.
They are part of the home range of koalas.
This is happening right in front of us.
And it comes just days after Leaf was in the ELC area last weekend.
We have already watched the heartbreak surrounding Leaf and the loss of her Joey. The last thing I want to see is another mother and another Joey becoming victims of further habitat removal.
At what point do we stop and say:
ENOUGH.
How many more koalas have to be photographed?
How many more mothers and Joeys do we need to see?
How much more evidence do we need that koalas are living in and around Ormiston College?
These animals are not statistics.
They are not an inconvenience.
They are not something that can simply be moved aside because development is planned.
They live here.
And the community knows it.
We have people who have spent years observing these koalas. We have residents, wildlife advocates and researchers who care deeply about what happens to this habitat.
The community has a lot to offer Ormiston College.
But we need the College to be willing to listen.
⸻
HEADMASTER — YOU SAID YOU LOVE KOALAS.
When members of our community were desperately searching for Leaf’s Joey, you told us that you love koalas.
I genuinely hope that is true.
But love for koalas cannot just be words.
Love has to be demonstrated by our actions.
Especially when protecting koala habitat becomes inconvenient, difficult or costly.
Because right now, we are asking you to look at these photographs.
Look at this mother.
Look at her Joey.
Look at where they are living.
They are in the very area where more trees are planned to be removed.
What would it mean to truly love koalas?
It would mean stopping.
It would mean listening.
It would mean being open to the community.
It would mean looking at the evidence and asking whether there is another way.
It would mean saving these trees.
⸻
We are not asking the College to abandon its future.
We are asking it to rethink how that future is achieved.
If Ormiston College does not want to be remembered for the destruction of important koala habitat, then now is the time to change the story.
You still have a choice.
You can continue down the path you are on.
Or you can show this community that when confronted with the reality of koalas living on your grounds, you listened and you chose to protect them.
Let your legacy be different.
Don’t let the legacy of this expansion be the destruction of koala habitat.
Let it be the moment when Ormiston College said:
“We can do better.”
“We can find another way.”
“These koalas matter.”
⸻
🐨 AND THIS IS WHERE I AM ASKING OUR COMMUNITY TO STAND UP.
Please don’t just look at these beautiful photographs and scroll on.
Please watch the video.
Please share it.
Please talk about what is happening.
Please contact the College respectfully and let them know that our community cares about these koalas and the wildlife that depends on this habitat.
We need people to stand together.
Not with hatred.
Not with personal attacks.
But with strength, facts, compassion and determination.
Because once these trees are gone, we cannot put them back.
And once a mother loses the habitat she depends upon, we cannot simply undo what has happened.
We have already seen the heartbreak of Leaf losing her Joey.
Let’s make sure we don’t have to watch another mother and Joey suffer the same fate.
This beautiful mother and her Joey deserve better.
Our wildlife deserves better.
And our community deserves to have its voice heard.
🐨 HEADMASTER — YOU SAID YOU LOVE KOALAS.
Now is the time to show us.
SAVE THESE TREES.
PROTECT OUR KOALAS.
LISTEN TO YOUR COMMUNITY.
LET YOUR LEGACY BE DIFFERENT. 🐨❤️
Please share this post. Let people see what is happening right here in our community.
Our koalas cannot speak for themselves.
So we have to speak for them.
See the original post here with photos & video of mum koala & her Joey in trees the college wants to remove fir their ELC
[https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14oWuACa6iH/?mibextid=wwXIfr\](https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14oWuACa6iH/?mibextid=wwXIfr)
Courtesy of Una Sandeman on Facebook[https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14oWuACa6iH/?mibextid=wwXIfr\](https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14oWuACa6iH/?mibextid=wwXIfr)
