Mystery of crucified stuffed koalas smeared with fake blood

No one in the village of Palmwoods in Queensland, Australia seems to know why more than 40 stuffed koala toys smeared with fake blood were pinned to crosses lining a busy road. Each cross was painted with a number and dug into the ground. A resident said the crosses had been removed and their appearance remained a mystery. "It's very weird, I was wondering what was going on with that," she said.

The mysterious protest was not the work of the core animal groups on the Sunshine Coast, with Vegan Warriors and Queensland Koala Crusaders both denying any knowledge. But Ray Chambers of Sunshine Coast Koala Rescue said he believed the protest was done by an individual, crying out on behalf of koalas set to lose their habitat on the Bruce Highway at Glenview.



A section of forestry has been cleared to make way for a new service road from Aussie World towards Buderim. Mr Chambers also believed the bloodied cavalcade of crucified koalas was in protest at the proposed realignment of Steve Irwin Way.

He said Federal Government's proposal to upgrade the Caloundra interchange and realign the Steve Irwin Way, as part of the highway upgrade, threatened to destroy 75 hectares of prime koala and wildlife habitat and needed to be "stopped at all costs". "We have just put up a cross ourselves on the Bruce Highway where eight koalas have been killed between Sippy Downs and Forest Glen," Mr Chambers said. "We hope at least that might make people slow down - we can only try."