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

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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 ‘Shed Shop’ on the road next to our house. But I decided to bake with them instead and I made hundreds of salted caramel chocolate chip brownies.

TallulahTallulah
Tallulah

At least one or two would be sold every day and they flew off the shelves at the weekends. I was amazed when I realised I had raised £700.

This year I want to do even better and raise over £1,000 so I have asked my school friends and some local families to help. I have given them recipe cards so they can bake their own treats, and we will sell them at different stalls along a popular cycling route. The challenge can be so much fun.

Red Nose Day is back on Friday 18 March. To find out how you can get involved, visit comicrelief.com.

DIARY DATES

VALENTINE'S DAY

14 FEBRUARY

A day to celebrate love!

RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS WEEK

13-19 FEBRUARY

Spread kindness this week and do something thoughtful for another person.

INTERNATIONAL CHILDHOOD CANCER DAY

15 FEBRUARY

A day to raise awareness of children with cancer.

WOW!

Netflix has announced it will be releasing a new film adaptation of Pinocchio. The animated retelling of

the classic story will be told from the point of view of a blue cricket, voiced by Ewan McGregor. The film is set to be one of Netflix’s big festive releases in December.

WEEKLY PUZZLE

Last week's puzzle answer: