First News: G'day Joey!

First News is a 28-page weekly newspaper for young people delivered into homes across the UK every Friday. Find out more and try for free at firstnews.co.uk/1free 

G'DAY JOEY!

A southern koala joey has been born at Longleat Safari park - the first koala of its kind to ever be born in Europe.

The joey arrive last year but has been hiding inside its mother's pouch until now. When they are born, koala joeys are the size of of a jelly bean, and are blind are hairless. They usually stay inside their mother's pouch until they are around six months old and are ready to start investigating the world.

Violet, the joey’s mum, came to Longleat from Australia three years ago, as part of an international breeding programme to help save this unusual species.

Australia is the only place in the world where koalas live in the wild, but their numbers are falling dramatically. In 2020, large bushfires destroyed a huge area of koala habitat and killed lots of the animals. Longleat’s Koala Creek aims to be the European hub for Koala breeding, so the safe arrival of the first joey is wonderful news.

YOUR NEWS

Young people! Send us your news and photos to [email protected] and have your story published on this page and ,perhaps, in First News too.

BAKING FOR COMIC RELIEF

I decided to fundraise for Comic relief after seeing one of their films, which made me sad.

By Tallulah

At first, we sold eggs from our own chickens out of a wooden