The abhorrent act of cruelty to a defenseless koala in Koroit recently has created huge community and global outrage.

The heinous act happened on Wednesday 25th of March about 5pm - when it was still daylight, when people were getting home from work, finishing up footy practise and playing at the dog park. 

Meanwhile, an individual was making the disturbing decision to allegedly go out of his way to injure a helpless koala. The person allegedly tied a rope around the koala’s neck and the other end to his tow ball and proceeded to drive 100M or so - allegedly dragging the koala down a residential Koroit street to the oval. The koala was then allegedly dumped - still alive and writhing in pain. The individual allegedly removed the rope, leaving the koala and witnesses to deal with the horrific situation in front of them. 

Mosswood Wildlife - which is completely volunteer-run - was left to deal with the tragic but necessary outcome - humane euthanasia of the suffering koala.

At the same time, Victoria’s Premier, Jacinta Allan, shelved the hard-fought and long-promised update to the state’s animal cruelty laws. The animal care and protection bill was meant to be a modern piece of legislation that would protect animals instead of failing them, which is what the current outdated law does.

Victoria‘s animal cruelty laws are some of the weakest in the country, and Labor appears to want to keep it that way.

This is what the updated law would look like:

Recognising all animals as sentient beings, meaning they are capable of feelings such as pain and pleasure
Outlining minimum care requirements – including food, water, shelter, hygiene and exercise
Introduces a new high-level offence for intentionally causing unreasonable harm, pain, or distress to an animal. Classified as an indictable offence, it carries a maximum penalty of 1250 penalty units or 60 months (5 years) imprisonment (or both) for an individual and 6250 penalty units for a body corporate, representing a substantial increase in potential liability compared to POCTA (Protection of Cruelty to Animals).
Mosswood has seen many cruelty cases in the region, and they just appear to go unpunished. This cannot continue.

Please, stay outraged at the cruelty to this young male koala.

The terror that it would have felt is simply beyond imagination.

Please don’t abandon him.

Make his death count for something.

It is easy in our busy lives to forget things like this. To put it aside as “too hard”. But we have the power to use this tragic event to reverse a bad and unpopular decision made by the people elected to make decisions on our behalf.

We urge you to sign this petition, write letters to the government, and demand that action is taken.

Demand that this bill be turned into law as soon as possible.

Keep asking the Office of the Conservation Regulator (OCR) and Police for updates on this case.

Ask media outlets to continue following the story.

Project your passion and outrage in the direction that may bring about change – let’s get this bill back on the table.