The books can be purchased from Bonny Hills Garden Centre Café with funds going towards the Living with Koalas program. 

The aim of the program is to create koala food tree corridors connecting known koala habitats in the Port Macquarie-Hastings area.

Owner of the cafe Nathan Smith said he spoke with the program’s founder G Henshaw about the initiative to help with the conservation and regeneration of wild koalas in the area.

“I was a big supporter, especially as we used to have a regular koala visitor to the cafe who sadly was run over and killed some while ago,” he said. 

“We are happy to sell the books as we know most of the proceeds go to the local schools for the nurture koala food trees program.” 

Author and founder of the Living with Koalas program G calls it a ‘kidults book’.

“Entertainment and education for children; information and motivation for adults,” he said. 

The koala is now listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as Vulnerable with numbers rapidly decreasing and facing the real threat of extinction within 50 years.

“There are some expert predictions saying the wild koala population in the Port Macquarie-Hastings area could be locally extinct in under 25 years,” he said.  

“Habitat loss is by far the biggest threat.

“We should all hang out heads in shame if we are the last generation to see healthy populations of koalas in the wild in Australia.”

For more information about the work of Living with Koalas or to purchase a book visit www.lwk.net.au