Jordan Asquith was quick with his phone camera last week when travelling along Creightons Creek Road, noticing cars making a gentle swerve around a small travelling family. The Euroa-based farmer took the time to pull over and take a snap of a koala and its joey heading to greener leaves. Local numbers of the popular native were decimated by the January bushfires, resulting in very few, if any, sightings by locals. "It's good to see them back," Jordan said. "I was at the fires for about two weeks and I didn't see any then nor since. "I thought it was just the mum, but when I stopped I saw the baby and thought what a bonus." Euroa Pouch Babies wildlife carer Sharon Andrews said sightings were beginning to occur again, but populations had not yet recovered. "They're only just coming back, but the numbers haven't really recovered yet," she said. "There's no foliage on the hills yet and so they don't stay because there's not enough food. "They sort of come and go." Ms Andrews said the scale of losses during and after the fires had been devastating. "Thousands were burnt," she said. "We were still pulling them from the fires weeks after the fires had gone, weeks and weeks later." While encouraged by recent sightings, Ms Andrews said the animals appeared to be moving through burnt areas rather than re-establishing themselves. "I think they're just moving through to see for themselves what's recovered," she said. "Koalas are quite smart. People think they're dumb, but they're not. "They're moving to the outer edges to get food." A recent sighting near Sinclair Lane, along with the Creightons Creek Road mother and joey, were among the first reports Ms Andrews had received since she stopped rescuing them from the firegrounds after January. "The fellow up in Sinclair Lane saw one about a week and a half ago," she said. "That's the first one he's seen back there. "It's going to take a long time. It's going to take a couple of years, I reckon. "We've got to get good rains and good seasons to bring the foliage back." Ms Andrews urged locals to know what to do if they saw a koala. "If a koala is seen on the ground for more than an hour, call it in to Wildlife Victoria or contact a local wildlife carer," she said. "They should not stay on the ground apart from moving from tree to tree. "If people see one on the road, definitely stop and get it off the road if it's safe to do so. "Koalas are so endangered it's not funny. "We need to protect them." Injured wildlife can be reported to Wildlife Victoria's 24-hour emergency hotline on (03) 8400 7300.
