On Sunday, Bathurst councillor Jess Jennings reported a koala sitting asleep on the ground around his property at The Lagoon, which he said "clearly wasn't quite right."

"I've known koalas to normally sleep in trees, not on the ground, and my first thought was that it may have been attacked by dogs," Cr Jennings said.

"So WIRES came to collect the koala, and after going to a Bathurst vet, and later Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo, I received a call informing me that it was extremely ill and it sadly died the following day.

"More alarmingly, I was told it was the fourth koala in six weeks from this area to die from illness."

Cr Jennings said internal symptoms included extreme dehydration, but was told chlamydia infection [wet bottom], a key disease threatening Australian koalas, wasn't a factor.

"The staff at Dubbo Zoo have no idea what the illness is, and it has koala experts concerned," he said.

"We've got many koalas around the area [this koala was the second seen on our property in two months], and I felt it was important to raise awareness of an issue that could have a horrific effect on the population."

According to the NSW Koala Country website, an official page dedicated to the protection and conservation of koalas, the koala population across the state has declined by 23 per cent over the past two decades.

On a national scale, the koala population was significantly affected by the 2019-20 bushfire season, with some 60,000 koalas killed or injured according to a WWF Australia report, including 8000 in NSW.

Cr Jennings feels more attention should be drawn towards the protection of koala habitats around the Bathurst and Central West region.

"If we have suitable habitat here and a bit of a population, we should be looking to enhance it," he said.

"Council could potentially help via commissioning a study into koala populations, and the person I spoke to from Dubbo said she'd be interested in carrying out an assessment around The Lagoon, based on these four deaths."

It is widely feared koalas could be extinct in NSW by 2050 without urgent action.

Last year, Skillset received a $10,000 grant from the NSW Environmental Trust to help regenerate an area of bushland at Rockley Mount [eight kilometres from The Lagoon] for a breeding colony of koalas.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: