Man who punched koala in the head fined $500

A NEW Year's Eve reveller who punched a koala in the head has been fined $500 by the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

The man terrorised the marsupial in the One Mile Beach car park in Port Stephens, north of Newcastle, last December 31, doing doughnuts in his car around the koala’s tree before punching it in the head.

He was fined for harming a vulnerable species - a charge which carries maximum penalties of up to a year in jail and a $55,000 fine.

Koala conservation groups in Port Stephens say the incident is just one of many in which tourists interfere with the area's fragile koala population.

The Hunter Koala Preservation Society has reported treating animals that are suffering from shock after being crowded by tourists trying to get up close for a photo.

Authorities have urged people who spot a koala in the wild to keep their distance and never try to interfere with them in their natural habitat.


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