Celebrities, politicians and untold thousands of tourists have done it for years but cuddling koalas at a Brisbane wildlife sanctuary is coming to an end after feedback from visitors.
Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary opened in the Queensland capital in 1927, and describes itself as the world’s first koala sanctuary.
Now it has announced an end to koala holding as of Monday, replacing it with “close-up” experiences instead.
The move comes as an international animal welfare organisation leads calls for koala cuddling to be officially outlawed.
Here’s what you need to know about holding koalas in Australia:
With additional reporting by Australian Associated Press
The original article contains 103 words, the summary contains 103 words. Saved 0%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
London-based animal welfare group World Animal Protection says cuddling koalas is cruel and is petitioning the state government for an outright ban.
The group argues that studies show koalas are harmed “by the presence of visitors alone”, because people keep them awake longer than they would typically be in the wild, among other reasons. Koalas typically sleep about 20 hours a day.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Celebrities, politicians and untold thousands of tourists have done it for years but cuddling koalas at a Brisbane wildlife sanctuary is coming to an end after feedback from visitors.
Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary opened in the Queensland capital in 1927, and describes itself as the world’s first koala sanctuary.
Now it has announced an end to koala holding as of Monday, replacing it with “close-up” experiences instead.
The move comes as an international animal welfare organisation leads calls for koala cuddling to be officially outlawed.
Here’s what you need to know about holding koalas in Australia:
With additional reporting by Australian Associated Press
The original article contains 103 words, the summary contains 103 words. Saved 0%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
you’re a low koalaty bot
You eliminated the parts that explain why it’s being banned. Why can’t I snuggle the koalas???
Do you want chlamydia? Because that’s how you catch chlamydia.
Which is why this is a real place-
TIL I’m a koala! I also feel mentally harmed if I have to deal with people all day, instead of sleeping 20 hours a day.
…or, maybe I’m just depressed?
Heres what you need to know:
Oh, I guess there’s nothing I need to know
Because being a plaything for human entertainment interrupts their daily 20 hour sleep cycle and stresses them out.
It’s a shitty bot that eliminates the most important part of a story on the regular and if I had my way, it wouldn’t be in this community.
Bad bot