When it comes to protecting Australia's koalas, sometimes the biggest breakthroughs come in surprisingly small packages.
At Currumbin Wildlife Hospital on Queensland's Gold Coast, a clever little vaccine implant could make it easier than ever to protect wild koalas from chlamydia.
It's one of the conservation projects being supported by WWF-Australia's Visionary Partner for koala conservation, furniture company Koala, which is helping researchers and wildlife veterinarians tackle this serious threat to our much-loved marsupials.
Chlamydia is one of the leading threats to Australia's wild koalas, causing painful infections, blindness, infertility and sometimes death.
But researchers at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), working alongside Currumbin Wildlife Hospital, have developed a chlamydia vaccine that's already showing encouraging results.
There's just one catch.
The original vaccine required two injections around 30 days apart. That's no easy task when your patient lives high in the treetops!
Wild koalas either needed to be captured twice or kept in care until their second dose.
Now, researchers are trialling a clever solution: a biodegradable vaccine implant that removes the need for another capture. All in one visit!
Dr Michael Pyne, Senior Veterinarian at Currumbin Wildlife Hospital explains what makes this new approach so exciting.
“We’re at a critical phase where we’re moving away from a vaccine with two injections which was quite challenging, to an implant which only needs to be administered once, and it naturally dissolves giving the second dose,” says Dr Pyne.
And one little koala has already helped make history.
In May 2026, Bamse, an 18-month-old female became the first wild koala to receive the implant. After her visit to Currumbin Wildlife Hospital, she was returned to her bushland home in Burleigh Heads that same day.
The new implant is an exciting step forward, but the original two-dose vaccine has already delivered some remarkable results.
In 2020, more than 70% of koalas from the Elanora area on the Gold Coast that were taken to Currumbin Wildlife Hospital were infected with chlamydia.
Following a targeted vaccination program, chlamydia-related hospital admissions from the general area have since fallen by 70.3%.
With the new implant potentially making vaccination easier, Dr Pyne hopes the vaccine could eventually reach many more koalas.
“The vision is to roll out this vaccine to significant numbers of wild koalas.”
“If we can get this vaccine rolled out to multiple wildlife hospitals across Australia treating koalas, it can start to make a real difference,” says Dr Pyne.
And there's more good news.
The monitored koala population has welcomed 41 joeys and 13 grand-joeys! That's 54 new reasons to be hopeful about the future.
Tanya Pritchard, WWF-Australia's Koala Projects Lead, explains how Koala's support is making a difference.
“With support from Koala Furniture we’ve been able to vaccinate over 540 koalas in partnership with Currumbin Wildlife Hospital. The groundbreaking research is treating koalas with chlamydia, aiming to improve the recovery of koalas along the east coast of Australia,” says Tanya.
It's one thing to hear about the research. It's another to meet the people making it happen.
In September, the Koala team joined WWF-Australia at Currumbin Wildlife Hospital, hearing firsthand from Dr Michael Pyne about the science helping protect wild koalas.
Seeing koalas receiving care and meeting the vets and research teams working tirelessly to protect them brought home just how important this work is, and the real difference long-term partnerships can make.
For Solina Ngov, Strategy and Sustainability Manager at Koala, protecting koalas is close to the company's heart.
“Supporting a healthy koala population is so important to us because we know chlamydia is one of the top three threats facing koalas today. To everyone who has supported us over the years, you’ve helped us support this work,” says Solina.
Since 2017, Koala has donated more than $4.8 million to WWF-Australia to help protect koalas and restore their habitats across Australia's east coast.
While vaccine research is helping protect more koalas from disease, securing a future for our Endangered koalas takes more than one solution.
Koalas also need safe, connected forests where they can find food, shelter and places to raise their young.
That's why, with support from partners like Koala, WWF-Australia works alongside scientists, wildlife hospitals, landholders and First Nations communities to help koalas recover.
From caring for sick and injured animals and monitoring wild populations to restoring habitat, improving our understanding of disease and advocating for stronger protections, every part of this work matters.
The work at Currumbin Wildlife Hospital is just one piece of the bigger picture.
By working together to care for wildlife, we can help create a future where koalas and nature can thrive.
Want to help protect koalas and the places they call home?