 of seedlings during repeated night-time raids. Claude was unknowingly scoring an own goal – the young trees were being grown for organisations that plant them in the wild in an effort to establish koala-friendly woodland. The larceny began a few months ago at Eastern Forest Nursery in South Gundurimba near Lismore in New South Wales. 'I noticed some of my seedlings were being chewed off and I thought it was probably a possum,' the owner, Humphrey Herington, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 'Every night, there'd be a few more and a few more [missing].' Eventually, the culprit was caught in the act. 'One morning we came out to work and Claude was sitting on a bench next to all these plants, just wrapped around a pole,' Mr Herington said. 'It seems like he'd had a really big feed that night, so I think he was too full to go and climb up his tree.' Eager to get rid of the marsupial but anxious not to harm it, Mr Herington wrapped the koala in a towel and took him to a field a few hundred yards away, placing him in a tree. Undeterred, Claude was back to his leaf-nibbling ways within two days.){kind=link}
The marsupial was eventually caught in the act after repeated night-time raids at a tree nursery in New South Wales
A rogue koala has been caught red-handed after raiding a tree nursery in Australia, nibbling on thousands of pounds’ worth of seedlings that were destined for the creation of new koala habitats.
The koala, dubbed Claude for his impressive claws and described by the Australia media as a “leaf thief” par excellence, is estimated to have munched his way through around A$6,000 (£3,000) of seedlings during repeated night-time raids.
Claude was unknowingly scoring an own goal – the young trees were being grown for organisations that plant them in the wild in an effort to establish koala-friendly woodland.
The larceny began a few months ago at Eastern Forest Nursery in South Gundurimba near Lismore in New South Wales.