Koroit's Mosswood Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre inundated with koalas after plantation bulldoze

Tracey Wilson has been living, breathing and loving wildlife her whole life and has been managing the centre at her home in Koroit for 13 years.

"Members of the public alerted us and alerted Wildlife Victoria who contacted us about the koalas," she said.

"I was busy with fires but (volunteer) Val Carter was on the scene on Friday and bought home several.

"I didn't know how many there would be and it just got bigger and bigger."

The Mosswood Centre had a gutted portable donated to eventually become a veterinary station but before it could be refurbished, the koalas came in.

Koalas were on the benches on three sides of one of the rooms, on tables and on the floor.

"They began arriving in our living room so we had to use the portable before it was ready and had the koalas on IV lines," she said.

"We had out vet James Cowell come in and deal with 20-30 koalas just in the first few days.

"We were running morning and night and someone had to sleep in the portable with the koalas; it was gob-smacking."

Mrs Wilson said "all the koalas were stressed, dehydrated and thin".

The centre administered formula for joey koalas and all of the marsupials were all given oral hydration and wet eucalyptus leaves and were treated for ticks.

With very limited resources before the influx of koalas, Mrs Wilson relied on south-west vets, Vets for Compassion and Wildlife Australia for supplies.

The koalas in care have all been fitted with ear tags and will be radio tracked to see how they cope when they are released.

"I don't like to let any animals go until they move freely, eat well and are re-hydrating," Mrs Wilson said.

"These koalas need time to de-stress."

The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning confirmed a wildlife triage centre at the site closed on Friday, following a large number of koalas being captured and assessed.

Wildlife catchers and a vet will remain on standby, should any koalas be found in need of assistance over the weekend.

About 150 koalas have been checked by a wildlife assessment team, over 100 koalas have been released back into the wild and more than 20 koalas have been moved to a care facility.

The total number of koala deaths is still being determined.

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Member for South West Coast Roma Britnell addressed State Parliament on Thursday morning condemning the situation.

She spoke with Minister for Environment Lily D'Ambrosio about management of koala populations in the south-west and the potential for some regulation and monitoring of land handed back to private owners following the harvest of a plantation where koalas are located.

"Animal cruelty is not acceptable in any instance and those responsible must face the full the full brunt of the law," Ms Britnell said.

"I am pleased that an investigation is underway and I want to assure those people who have contacted me as the local member that I will not stop pursuing this matter until those people responsible have been dealt with appropriately.

"The eyes of the world have been on the south-west for all the wrong reasons. I think everyone agrees that this must never happen again."

To make a donation for the Mosswood Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre head to their Instagram page here.

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