Kirsty Johansen:

With their trees disappearing, koalas are spending more time on the ground in search of food and shelter and this is when they're most vulnerable to being hit by vehicles and attacked by dogs. Another reason for their population decline is the disease chlamydia, which is an epidemic among koalas. The stress of losing habitat can cause the symptoms of chlamydia to manifest – which can lead to blindness, severe bladder inflammation, infertility and ultimately death. Over the past 6-12 months, Mucci and his team have rescued 20 wild koalas and brought them into this quarantine facility. More than half have had to be euthanized because of illness. But the rest are being treated for chlamydia with antibiotics and will then be vaccinated against the disease. While the goal is to release the koalas back into the wild, a lot must happen before that can occur. It's currently mating season, and for University of Queensland Associate Professor Stephen Johnston who is the lead reproductive biologist on the project, this is crucial time. He is utilising new breeding and molecular technologies to map the genetic variation of wild koalas in different locations across the Gold Coast.