A koala chlamydia vaccine trial has been earmarked for late January in Gunnedah.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The vaccine will be administered to about 60 sick and well koalas to both combat and prevent the disease, and they will be monitored over a three-year period.
The team from the University of Sydney will be led by zoologist Dr Valentina Mella and veterinary pathologist Professor Mark Krockenberger who have been studying the shire's koalas for a number of years.
Read also:
The vaccine has been developed by Professor Peter Timms and his team at the University of Sunshine Coast who will prepare "targeted" vaccines by using blood samples from Gunnedah koalas.
"If everything goes well, we'll be starting at the end of January, otherwise we'll be starting at the end of March," Dr Mella said.
"We prefer to start in January because we're trying to target the koalas in breeding season as it's the time most of the disease transmission occurs.
"[The vaccine] is really special because we're hoping it's not just preventative but it could also treat [chlamydia]."
The team will also utilise temperature capsules to measure the effect of heat on the koalas and how water helps them to manage it.
The capsules help the team to measure the koalas' internal temperature over a period of time and from this data, they can work out how hot they get before they become dehydrated. The data can be downloaded remotely.
About 20 koalas will be captured for the task, then released and recaptured after a week so the team can see how much water they've been drinking and how it has been used by the body.
If the vaccines are not ready by January, the team still plans to visit Gunnedah in summer to carry out a temperature study by recording behavioural observations
"We'll be looking at how animals behave when it is really hot, if they're hugging trees, licking, panting a lot. It's all important information to go with actual body temperature because it tells us if an animal is getting a bit cooler," Dr Mella said.
"That's why water becomes so important. We're hoping to see a difference between koalas drinking and koala that are not ... [and] put all information together.
"We know they're better at using water if they drink but we don't know if the water is helping to keep them cool."
