A KOALA has been found decapitated in what has been judged a cruel and deliberate trophy hunting attack.

A large, healthy male koala picked up from the side of the Sunshine Motorway between Murdering Creek Road and Eumarella Road, was cleanly decapitated and had his testicles removed.

Sunshine Coast Koala and Wildlife Rescue volunteers Ray and Murray Chambers, with rescue trainee Angie Duncan, were horrified to learn of the fate of the koala - named Sullivan - which had been previously rescued and released under Queensland legislation into the same home range.

"Sullivan was Angie's first release," said Ray Chambers. "We picked him up in March from a tree by the side of the motorway for safety reasons, but a vet check revealed a bladder infection. He was treated and on March 18, returned to thicker bush more than a kilometre away from where he was picked up."

On August 22, a passing motorist reported a dead koala by the side of the road.

"It was Angie's first body retrieval," said Ray.

Sullivan was found less than five metres from his home tree, the one in which they had found him in March, in the area known as Weyba Downs located between Peregian, Lake Weyba and the Sunshine Motorway.

"We cannot describe the distress, the impact this kind of situation has on us all. I've had enough," said Ray.

"The killing has to stop. Authorities have to act. We need fencing and signs and changes to legislation to allow release to safer areas, not original home ranges in which they are at high risk."

According to the reports on koala sighting website KoalaTracker, Weyba Downs is a central to a koala corridor that stretches from Sunshine Beach around the lake and down to Peregian.

Before the FKP development called Peregian Springs, the area was was thick with koalas.

Ray Chambers said they originally thought Sullivan was hit by a truck.

"But road traumas normally result in broken bones, mangled and bloodied body parts, bits hanging out," he said.

"This was clean. There was no blood on the road, no body fluids. The head was clear cut off.

"We searched that motorway both sides for 800 metres in each direction. There was no head to be found, anywhere. And then we saw his testicles had been removed. This was no accident.

"What kind of low life scum lives in this area, who would do such a thing to such a beautiful, placid healthy animal?"

The Chambers, who volunteer their time and energy to the rescue of koalas, have appealed to the public to contact police if they know anything about this incident.

* Alex Harris is creator of the national koala sighting website www.KoalaTracker.com.au. All rescues by Sunshine Coast Koala & Wildlife Rescue are signed sckwr and this can be used as a keyword search of the KoalaTracker database.

Originally published as Sick 'trophy hunter' claims koala's head