Pictured below: Chantelle with Chantilly, the joey she raised whilst living up at the AustralianWildlifeHospital.
It is with deep sorrow and regret that I inform all Pine Rivers residents of the death of a special blind koala named Chantelle.Many living near the Petrie Water Purification Plant on Dayboro Road/Woonara Drive had the privilege of getting to know her as she utilised the trees in her 4km home range.Wanda Grabowski and Shirley McRae kept a tab on her whereabouts three times a week until 2004 when she was admitted to the AustralianWildlifeHospital at Beerwah.
Chantelle’s teeth were worn to the gums and she would not have survived had she been left to her own devices.With supplementary feeding Chantelle was able to raise her pouch young Chantilly to sub-adulthood.She shared her enclosure with two other blind koalas enjoying fresh leaf daily, free from the stresses of dealing with habitat loss, motor vehicle strikes or dog attacks and lived to the ripe old age of 14 years.
Chantelle had more than her fair share of life challenges becoming blind after being attacked by pee wees in 1996.A condition of her release back into suburbia was that she be fitted with a radio-tracking collar.During the early years, a concerned motorist found her walking around in circles on Beeville Road and relocated her to his property at Whiteside.Naturally she was returned to her home range once located.Chantelle was also fortunate not to suffer any serious injuries after being hit by a car on two separate occasions.
Chantelle gave birth to eight joeys over the years she was being tracked.Three died as pinkies during her two year journey back to her home range.Pierre died from injuries sustained after falling from a tree and Gi Gi whilst carrying her first joey was hit by a car and killed on Dohles Rocks Road.I hope and pray that Chantelle’s remaining offspring Napoleon, Seline and Jacques are carrying her genes into the future.
