Cr Stellino wins argument on council, then off to save a koala

Barely an hour after getting support for his call to stop a chlamydia vaccine trial for local koalas, Animal Justice Party councillor Matt Stellino was on a rescue mission.

The target of his mission was this koala, spotted by me on my way home after covering the council meeting where Cr Stellino was backed in his stand over the proposed vaccine trial.

Driving along Georges River Road, between Junction Road, Ruse and Darling Avenue, I thought I saw what looked like a small poodle dog on the left side of the road.

It was very dark at the time, so a few metres further along I pulled up and made a u-turn to go and check on the animal, which wasn’t moving.

Parking across the road, it was obvious this was no doggie but a koala, who turned around and looked at me, as the photo shows.

I got on the phone to Ric Lonza, the koala carer, who also had been at the council meeting, but there was no response.

Then I though of Cr Stellino and rang him.

When he answered I explained the situation, and he said he would try to come and have a look.

As I was on the phone the koala started crossing the road towards the front of my car, stopped, had another look towards me and finally, to my relief, got to the other side, about three metres from me.

After leaving I got a call from Cr Stellino saying he had found Ric Lonza and the two of them were looking for the koala.

They were unsuccessful, most probably because the koala finally went deep into the bushland on the Airds side of the road.

But at least, as a result of the effort of Cr Stellino earlier in the evening, this and other koalas in the Campbelltown area may be spared a vaccine that experts say is a waste of time when there is little evidence of the chlamydia disease.