Cuddling a koala has long been a rite of passage — albeit sometimes a pungent one — for royals, celebrities and tourists visiting Australia.
From Taylor Swift to President Putin, many have been unable to resist embracing the animal on visits down under (although the late Duke of Edinburgh memorably demurred, declaring during a 1992 visit: “Oh no, I might catch some ghastly disease,” when invited to hold one).
Now, a koala sanctuary in Brisbane has ended the practice, after guests said they wanted a more immersive encounter with the animals. Instead of briefly holding a koala and then passing it on, guests will be able to observe, pat and feed them for a longer period while they continue with their normal behaviour. Animal rangers will be on hand to teach guests about the much-loved marsupial.
Animal welfare experts have long maintained that koalas, as solitary, nocturnal animals, would rather hug a tree than a human, citing studies that suggest close encounters with people are stressful for the animals.
However, Lyndon Discombe, the general manager of the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, said the decision to end koala-holding “wasn’t anything to do with animal welfare as we’ve always supported the laws around how koala holds are done in Queensland, and our focus has always been on the welfare of the animals anyway”.
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He told The Courier Mail newspaper: “Our guests really want to have more time to make the experience more immersive.” About 25,000 visitors each year have participated in koala events at the sanctuary.
Cuddling or holding koalas is already banned for guests at zoological institutions in New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and the Northern Territory.
“Koalas are solitary, wild animals, and can be stressed in interactions with humans,” said Jen Basham, urban sustainability organiser at Queensland Conservation Council. “We know Queenslanders and tourists alike are thrilled when they encounter koalas, but nothing beats seeing them in their natural habitat.”
The move to end the holding of koalas was supported by the Zoo and Aquarium Association (ZAA), which said the sanctuary was an important centre for conservation education and advocacy. “This decision will address the desires of visitors to see koalas in their natural state while still providing the immersive, unforgettable and educational experiences that drive conservation engagement in ZAA-accredited institutions,” a spokesman said.
Al Mucci, the former president of the Queensland branch of the ZAA, said other venues may not necessarily follow, as there was evidence to suggest koalas actually enjoyed being handled by guests. Research conducted by Griffith University in Queensland during Covid lockdowns showed koalas in captivity actually became more stressed and depressed when they stopped receiving cuddles from visitors.
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“We saw … that the cortisol levels [a measure of stress and discomfort] in the koalas’ faecal matter actually increased when there were no visitors around,” Mucci said. “It will be interesting to see what happens.”
In states with koala populations, except Queensland and South Australia, it is illegal to hold and physically support the weight of a koala, such as in a cuddle, but it is not illegal to touch them. Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales, permits “handling” a koala but it must be “restricted to patting, stroking and cuddling to the extent of putting an arm around the koala while the animal remains on a fixed perch”.
Queensland has a more liberal stance, where body-to-body handling — the direct transfer of a koala from a keeper to a member of the public — is permitted under state law.
But there are still strict regulations. Koalas cannot be used for photography on more than three consecutive days, and they cannot be taken from the wild, only from existing populations in captivity.
A Queensland government spokesman said on Thursday that there were no plans to tighten the rules. Queensland’s premier, Stephen Miles, said: “I used to joke as the environment minister that our koalas have the best union around. The requirements on those koalas, how many breaks they get, all that kind of thing — they’re pretty strict.”
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As a national icon, koalas are important to Australia’s tourism industry, with one study from 2014 estimating they are worth A$3.2 billion (£1.7 billion) each year to the industry and support up to 30,000 jobs.
However, their numbers are in steep decline, with wild populations severely impacted by habitat loss, bushfires, drought and disease. Some experts estimate there may be as few as 50,000 left in the wild. Koalas are officially listed as endangered along much of Australia’s east coast.
In a speech in 2016 Julie Bishop, then Australia’s foreign minister, ranked koala cuddling first among other soft power strategies that help “build a stronger, connected and more prosperous region”.
Some politicians have spoken less favourably about the koala. In 1983 John Brown, then Australia’s minister for sport, recreation and tourism, said: “It’s flea-ridden, it piddles on you, it stinks and it scratches.”
Australia is home to some of the world’s largest marsupial carnivores, including the Tasmanian devil, spotted-tailed quoll and eastern quoll, which are wholly protected by law, meaning it is illegal to capture or contain them, except those that are injured. The platypus enjoys the same level of protection.
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Other iconic Australian animals such as kangaroos and dingoes have no such protection and are slaughtered by farmers and hunters. Dingoes, which are wild dogs thought to have entered Australia from Asia at least 3,500 years ago, are classed as pests across much of the nation, while about 1.5 million kangaroos are slaughtered annually.
