But, eight months later she is one spry little koala giving all a bit of hope.

On August 5, 2020, Marine was released back into her home habitat after being found 25 kilometres north of Mudgee in January on the side of the road.

Marine collected by local WIRES volunteers, Martin and Priscilla, before heading to Sydney for specialist treatment.

She was later cared for in Kurrajong with WIRES volunteer, Morgan Philpott before she was transported back to Mudgee by Lucy Clarke and Stirling West three weeks ago.

Soon after arriving in the Central West she fell into the caring hands of Sue Wakefield and Louise O'Brien in the lead up to her release.

"She was literally starving and dehydrated," Wakefield said.

"Over the last summer, we have probably had more koalas come into our care in the Central West than ever before, and most of them are young ones who were dispersing from their mother's territory to find their own home range.

"Because the leaf on the eucalyptus trees was so dry as a result of the drought, they simply weren't getting enough moisture."

When Marine entered into care, she weighed 3.8 kilograms and at the time of her release she was somewhere around the 5.5 kilogram mark which Wakefield attributes to the constant monitoring.

"It was basically maintaining good nutrition, putting as much food and water into her as she could take, and growing her out to this beautiful little animal that she is," she said.

"Her body is excellent and her muscle development is really good.

"This is what we all hope for, a successful release."

Despite giving her carers a little goodbye glance once the moment came to find her way into the world, Sue would describe two-year-old Marine to not be of the cheeky sort.

"I would describe her as very passive, she has definitely proved herself not to be a daytime girl but she's a very easy little koala to handle, she's been a really nice animal to care for," Sue said.

To the untrained eye, Marine taking on the likes of the branch that was specifically chosen for her would seem rather anticipated, but for the WIRES clan it was relieving.

"It was an absolute relief to see her go up the branch fork that we had actually chosen for her because nine times out of 10 they'll just look around and they'll say 'I don't like the tree that you've chosen' and run across the ground and find something else," Wakefield said.

"This little valley is just heaven sent for this little animal and we know that there are koalas in the local area so she's going back into an established koala population.

"It's a fabulous choice and we're very very grateful to the property owners for allowing us to to use it to use it to release her."

If you come across any injured animals, please phone WIRES on 1300 094 737.