Friends of the Koala

Founded in 1986, Friends of the Koala is a charity based in East Lismore, Australia working on nature & wildlife conservation, animal welfare, science & research.

Friends of the Koala is an Australian non-profit based in East Lismore, New South Wales, focused on all aspects of koala conservation. It rescues, rehabilitates and releases sick, injured and orphaned koalas, operating a 24/7 rescue hotline and a Koala Hospital that treats more koalas each year than any other facility in New South Wales, Queensland or Victoria. The organisation protects and restores koala habitat through koala food tree plantations and community native plant nurseries, and has issued more than 812,000 native plants and trees to landholders and restoration groups since 1989. It runs koala health research, including a chlamydia vaccine project, maintains one of the largest single-species databases in the world, and educates the community and advocates for koalas at local, state and national levels. Its work covers the Northern Rivers region of NSW, across the local government areas of Ballina, Byron, Kyogle, Lismore, Richmond Valley and Tweed, an area of about 10,000 sq km. It founded and leads the Northern Rivers Koala Network, which brings together councils, koala groups and national NGOs.