Saturday, 26 March 2011
Dunbogan Audrey
This is the beautiful Dunbogan Audrey who was admitted looking a little tawdry in November 2010. She was carrying a joey, called Dunbogan Dave. After some R&R, Audrey was released but Dave is still with us at the Hospital practising his climbing skills and gaining weight ahead of his release.
Thursday, 2 September 2010
Precious Georgie Girl
This beautiful little creature is Georgie, a tiny baby koala who was orphaned and came into the care of Sue Swain, one of our friends at the Hunter Koala Preservation Society near Port Stephens, north of Sydney.
Georgie weighed only 212 grams when she came into Sue's care after Georgie's Mum had died as the result of a dog attack. The mother was a very young koala herself and it is believed that Georgie was probably her first joey.
Cheyne and the other staff at the Koala Hospital have had a close relationship over the years with Sue. Sue is one of those cherished people who cares for orphaned wildlife - sometimes a couple of koala joeys at a time - which means round-the-clock feeding.
Over the last week, Cheyne and Sue have been conferring by email over little Georgie's progress, in particular concerning the acquisition of a special substance called 'pap', which young joeys must eat before they can progress to eating leaf. As crazy as this may sound, this pap is a form of maternal faeces. It is produced in the caecum (pron. seecum), the blind gut in the koala's complex digestive system. And the substance is more vital to the early progress of a young joey than colostrum is to a newborn human.
The importance of pap is that it inoculates the joey's developing gut with the microflora necessary to digest the eucalyptus leaf - which will become its primary source of food. Without this microflora, the leaf is toxic to the koala. If pap is not available, poo shakes are made up for the joey to drink. Just as they sound, these shakes are made by mixing the fresh droppings of a healthy koala - male or female - with a non-dairy formula supplement. Sometimes the poo shakes are enough to provide the microflora; in other cases only pap will do.
Georgie was fed poo shakes regularly while Sue desperately tried to source fresh pap. It may sound gruesome, but the only way pap can be acquired artificially is by harvesting it from the caecum of a koala that has recently died. The premise is a bit like organ donation in human medicine; if an otherwise healthy koala is killed in a motor vehicle accident, at least it is possible for that animal to donate their special pap to nurture a growing joey in desperate need of the magic mixture to survive. Pap from a male or female koala will do.
In the past, Sue has looked to the Koala Hospital to provide pap for joeys she has had in care, and, likewise, Sue has collected and delivered pap for other licenced carers who have joeys in need of it. Also, because the Koala Hospital has a dedicated joey yard - the climbing kindergarten - Sue sends her joeys to us just prior to release. They get lots of practice climbing in the joey yard, and, after months of hand-rearing, soon return to their wild koala ways before they are released.
Caring for tiny joeys can be the most enriching but also the most heart-breaking part of wildlife rehabilitation. Unfortunately, in Georgie's case, despite everyone's best efforts, no pap could be obtained for Georgie and she did did not survive. This is a sad story, but it is important that people understand how much orphaned joeys struggle to reach necessary milestones in human care.
If you would like to make a much-needed donation to help the Hunter Koala Preservation Society with their valuable work, please click here. They are in need of funds to support their day-to-day operations in koala care and rescue. These include: an Ambulance, Veterinary medications, tests, research and updating veterinary equipment, Rescue apparatus, Rehabilitation sheds, Leaf storage sheds, Education campaigns, Buying and planting koala food trees, Rehabilitation areas/land, Establishing new and existing areas that sustain koalas, Environmental enrichment programs.
Georgie weighed only 212 grams when she came into Sue's care after Georgie's Mum had died as the result of a dog attack. The mother was a very young koala herself and it is believed that Georgie was probably her first joey.
Cheyne and the other staff at the Koala Hospital have had a close relationship over the years with Sue. Sue is one of those cherished people who cares for orphaned wildlife - sometimes a couple of koala joeys at a time - which means round-the-clock feeding.
Over the last week, Cheyne and Sue have been conferring by email over little Georgie's progress, in particular concerning the acquisition of a special substance called 'pap', which young joeys must eat before they can progress to eating leaf. As crazy as this may sound, this pap is a form of maternal faeces. It is produced in the caecum (pron. seecum), the blind gut in the koala's complex digestive system. And the substance is more vital to the early progress of a young joey than colostrum is to a newborn human.
The importance of pap is that it inoculates the joey's developing gut with the microflora necessary to digest the eucalyptus leaf - which will become its primary source of food. Without this microflora, the leaf is toxic to the koala. If pap is not available, poo shakes are made up for the joey to drink. Just as they sound, these shakes are made by mixing the fresh droppings of a healthy koala - male or female - with a non-dairy formula supplement. Sometimes the poo shakes are enough to provide the microflora; in other cases only pap will do.
Georgie was fed poo shakes regularly while Sue desperately tried to source fresh pap. It may sound gruesome, but the only way pap can be acquired artificially is by harvesting it from the caecum of a koala that has recently died. The premise is a bit like organ donation in human medicine; if an otherwise healthy koala is killed in a motor vehicle accident, at least it is possible for that animal to donate their special pap to nurture a growing joey in desperate need of the magic mixture to survive. Pap from a male or female koala will do.
In the past, Sue has looked to the Koala Hospital to provide pap for joeys she has had in care, and, likewise, Sue has collected and delivered pap for other licenced carers who have joeys in need of it. Also, because the Koala Hospital has a dedicated joey yard - the climbing kindergarten - Sue sends her joeys to us just prior to release. They get lots of practice climbing in the joey yard, and, after months of hand-rearing, soon return to their wild koala ways before they are released.
Caring for tiny joeys can be the most enriching but also the most heart-breaking part of wildlife rehabilitation. Unfortunately, in Georgie's case, despite everyone's best efforts, no pap could be obtained for Georgie and she did did not survive. This is a sad story, but it is important that people understand how much orphaned joeys struggle to reach necessary milestones in human care.
If you would like to make a much-needed donation to help the Hunter Koala Preservation Society with their valuable work, please click here. They are in need of funds to support their day-to-day operations in koala care and rescue. These include: an Ambulance, Veterinary medications, tests, research and updating veterinary equipment, Rescue apparatus, Rehabilitation sheds, Leaf storage sheds, Education campaigns, Buying and planting koala food trees, Rehabilitation areas/land, Establishing new and existing areas that sustain koalas, Environmental enrichment programs.
Friday, 27 August 2010
Poor Coastlands Steve!
My heart really went out to Coastlands Steve today. Firstly, it’s the second time he’s been in that, that I’m aware of. Last time, he was hit by a car and spent considerable time in homecare under the watchful eye of Joyce. Now he's back in the Hospital again. And today, he was a bit out of sorts.
He was missing from his yard when Pete did his morning rounds. At first, he feared Steve had taken off into Macquarie Nature Reserve, but, no, he was much closer at hand. He had travelled from his own yard 1 to yard 3 just across the way.
Yard 3 is home to Amira Ruby, a gorgeous little female koala who delighted us with her placid demeanour and range of delightfully coloured bandages during her time in ICU.
When Pete found Steve in Ruby's yard, Steve was looking a bit sorry for himself. He'd scraped a bit of 'bark' off his nose - possibly from colliding with the colourbond fence during his escape attempt. The fences are positioned at least 2 metres apart, since that is the maximum distance a koala can jump. However, it IS mating season again. I know this for sure as I heard our local wild koala, whom we've dubbed Bonky Bill, letting his mating call ring out through the neighbourhood for the first time this season. Spring is around the corner and so is mating.
Perhaps Steve thought Amira Ruby looked like a bit of alright. Pete suspects that - although she looks like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth - Ruby probably put up a bit of a fight. So not only did Steve scrape his nose in the process, he also probably got a bit of biffo for his efforts when he got there.
Poor old Steve! No wonder he was looking a little sorry for himself this morning. So I made sure I picked him an EXTRA big fluffy bundle of leaf and decked his gunyah out like it was a Christmas tree.
I got to see loads of other koalas I didn't expect to today. Newport Bridge Gloria has been back in for a while, but as she's been sharing the expanses of yard 9 with Birthday Girl, I've barely seen her down on ground level.
Today, she came down to visit and she looked just like I remembered her. We have a bit of a 'history', you see. I first encountered Gloria during her time on the University of Sydney research trials back in 2007. She made her way through the treatment, but had been in a number of other times since. During one particularly memorable visit, I made the brilliant decision to transfer Gloria from the ground to the gunyah to make it easier for a volunteer to feed her. It all went pear-shaped. She bit me...HARD...luckily connecting with my fingernail, or else she would probably have bit through my finger. And, worse still, I kind of, well, let her drop out of my grasp as the pain was just excruciating! Gloria was fine, she just sort of tumbled free and made her own way up on to the gunyah. Phew!
Today, there were no such dramas fortunately. She looked keen to see me but I'm not deluding myself; it's only because she mistook my camera for a feed pot.
She followed me all over the place, to the point that I was concerned she might leap on me. Fortunately Peter arrived with a basket for transporting koalas. Gloria was to be released this morning! Peter showed he how koala handling was really done by effortlessly plucking Gloria off the gunyah and placing her in the basket.
Gloria has been admitted 8 times already - most recently for motor vehicle accidents; fingers crossed she still has another life left.
Another koala I didn't expect to see today was Oxley Kaylee. Since having her rear left leg amputated, she has been doing marvelously well.
I almost never see her down from her tree. Brooke had cleaned her yard and I set about preparing his leaf. Usually I spray the leaf before placing it in the pots. It's trickier having to juggle a bunch of leaf as you spray it, but it's preferable to showering the koala! In Kaylee's case, she was nowhere to be seen so I popped the last bunch in the pot and turned to fire up the hose. But in the time it took for me to turn around, there she was! She can get up quite a speed on only one back leg! It's incredible watching her thigh joint rotate under her fur as she moves about.
Another old friend is back in ICU. Lake Private was in with us back in 2007. He was found wandering about, disoriented, so he's back with us for a little R&R. Pete asked me to feed him and he lapped it up like he remembered it well. Hopefully, he will get some energy back after a little rest and TLC at the Hospital.
Click here to view more of today's koala hospital snaps.
He was missing from his yard when Pete did his morning rounds. At first, he feared Steve had taken off into Macquarie Nature Reserve, but, no, he was much closer at hand. He had travelled from his own yard 1 to yard 3 just across the way.
Yard 3 is home to Amira Ruby, a gorgeous little female koala who delighted us with her placid demeanour and range of delightfully coloured bandages during her time in ICU.
Perhaps Steve thought Amira Ruby looked like a bit of alright. Pete suspects that - although she looks like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth - Ruby probably put up a bit of a fight. So not only did Steve scrape his nose in the process, he also probably got a bit of biffo for his efforts when he got there.
Poor old Steve! No wonder he was looking a little sorry for himself this morning. So I made sure I picked him an EXTRA big fluffy bundle of leaf and decked his gunyah out like it was a Christmas tree.
I got to see loads of other koalas I didn't expect to today. Newport Bridge Gloria has been back in for a while, but as she's been sharing the expanses of yard 9 with Birthday Girl, I've barely seen her down on ground level.
Today, she came down to visit and she looked just like I remembered her. We have a bit of a 'history', you see. I first encountered Gloria during her time on the University of Sydney research trials back in 2007. She made her way through the treatment, but had been in a number of other times since. During one particularly memorable visit, I made the brilliant decision to transfer Gloria from the ground to the gunyah to make it easier for a volunteer to feed her. It all went pear-shaped. She bit me...HARD...luckily connecting with my fingernail, or else she would probably have bit through my finger. And, worse still, I kind of, well, let her drop out of my grasp as the pain was just excruciating! Gloria was fine, she just sort of tumbled free and made her own way up on to the gunyah. Phew!
Today, there were no such dramas fortunately. She looked keen to see me but I'm not deluding myself; it's only because she mistook my camera for a feed pot.
She followed me all over the place, to the point that I was concerned she might leap on me. Fortunately Peter arrived with a basket for transporting koalas. Gloria was to be released this morning! Peter showed he how koala handling was really done by effortlessly plucking Gloria off the gunyah and placing her in the basket.
Gloria has been admitted 8 times already - most recently for motor vehicle accidents; fingers crossed she still has another life left.
Another koala I didn't expect to see today was Oxley Kaylee. Since having her rear left leg amputated, she has been doing marvelously well.
I almost never see her down from her tree. Brooke had cleaned her yard and I set about preparing his leaf. Usually I spray the leaf before placing it in the pots. It's trickier having to juggle a bunch of leaf as you spray it, but it's preferable to showering the koala! In Kaylee's case, she was nowhere to be seen so I popped the last bunch in the pot and turned to fire up the hose. But in the time it took for me to turn around, there she was! She can get up quite a speed on only one back leg! It's incredible watching her thigh joint rotate under her fur as she moves about.
Another old friend is back in ICU. Lake Private was in with us back in 2007. He was found wandering about, disoriented, so he's back with us for a little R&R. Pete asked me to feed him and he lapped it up like he remembered it well. Hopefully, he will get some energy back after a little rest and TLC at the Hospital.
Click here to view more of today's koala hospital snaps.
Saturday, 26 June 2010
Noni Houdini
Cole Porter might have had Lighthouse Noni in mind back in the day when he penned the classic song "Don't Fence Me In".
Of course, no koala *wants* to be confined to a fenced yard, let alone an indoor unit, as is the case in our ICU. But treatment at the Koala Hospital involves something of a balancing act between giving koalas a little of the kind of freedom they enjoy in the wild, but not giving them so much freedom that it gets in the way of their treatment.
Some koalas are a flight risk, plain and simple. One such koala is Lighthouse Noni. The two times she's been admitted in as many years, Noni's shown nothing but eagerness to be rid of the place.
Like all our admissions, Noni was named for the area of Port Macquarie she came from - in her case, Lighthouse Beach - but "lighthouse" is an especially apt descriptor for Noni - she likes to be up high and out of reach!
18 June 2008
This is Noni perched up high near the roof beams of her unit, after her admission two years ago.
From brokenpuzzle's gallery.
27 August 2008
After her initial period of treatment, she was moved to outdoor rehabilitation yard where she preferred hanging out well above us mere mortals.
From brokenpuzzle's gallery.
6 June 2010
Noni was admitted again a few weeks ago with a recurrence of her chlamydial infection. I was talking with Peter where we cut leaf outside the ICUs on Sunday morning, when suddenly something caught my eye... It was a koala who seemed to be in no particular hurry, but was strolling about the beams near the roof! And, of course, it was Lighthouse Noni!
The doors to each indoor ICU unit are kept shut and latched. During morning cleaning when the volunteer must make multiple trips in and out of the unit (sweeping, mopping, laying towels, laying newspaper, replenishing leaf), the door is usually just pulled closed. This is generally enough to deter *most* koalas. But, Noni, it seemed, had found a new use for her scimitar claws - to prise open her door and escape! Up there for thinking, Noni!
From koalawrangler's gallery.
We haven't had such a wiley escape artist at the Hospital since the likes of O'Briens Fiona (whom we nicknamed "FiFi Houdini") because of her extraordinary number of escape attempts. Here is a bit of a blurry picture of Fiona doing exactly what I suspect Noni must have done - wiggling the door open with her claws!
I reckon that Noni was just checking up on our progress preparing her morning supply of fresh leaf! Peter quickly went and got Noni's pot of nutritional supplement and a ladder. I love the photo below, which looks as though we might have hoped that Noni mind climb down it of her own accord and return to her unit on her own. But, no, Peter trotted up the ladder and got Noni's attention with some food.
From koalawrangler's gallery.
Noni seemed perfectly happy to take the rest of her formula that way. It was like she was saying that her room service was a little late this morning!
Next Peter set about preparing Noni's bag in order to return her to her unit. Each koala has a dedicated bag to prevent any spread of infection between animals.
From koalawrangler's gallery.
Rather than bag her completely, however, Peter just used the bag to prevent Noni from biting him while detaching her. You can see her dangling free as I quickly pocket my camera and set about taking Noni from Peter and returning her to her unit.
Once back under lock and key, I finished feeding Noni her formula and replenished her unit with fresh leaf. She seemed to settle down after that.
Noni's gotten herself quite a reputation in these last few weeks. The other day, she leapt from her gunyah and landed on Peter's feet as he stood in the doorway.
It's obviously become such a common occurrence that Cheyne's put up a warning sign for unsuspecting vollies:
From koalawrangler's gallery.
20 June 2010
Last weekend, I happened to chance upon Emma helping Brooke service Noni's unit. Emma held up a towel to discourage her, but Noni still made a run for it!
The sooner we ship this one out, the sooner we can all rest! Fingers crossed Noni Houdini gets better soon.
Click here to view more snaps of Lighthouse Noni.
Of course, no koala *wants* to be confined to a fenced yard, let alone an indoor unit, as is the case in our ICU. But treatment at the Koala Hospital involves something of a balancing act between giving koalas a little of the kind of freedom they enjoy in the wild, but not giving them so much freedom that it gets in the way of their treatment.
Some koalas are a flight risk, plain and simple. One such koala is Lighthouse Noni. The two times she's been admitted in as many years, Noni's shown nothing but eagerness to be rid of the place.
Like all our admissions, Noni was named for the area of Port Macquarie she came from - in her case, Lighthouse Beach - but "lighthouse" is an especially apt descriptor for Noni - she likes to be up high and out of reach!
18 June 2008
This is Noni perched up high near the roof beams of her unit, after her admission two years ago.
From brokenpuzzle's gallery.
27 August 2008
After her initial period of treatment, she was moved to outdoor rehabilitation yard where she preferred hanging out well above us mere mortals.
From brokenpuzzle's gallery.
6 June 2010
Noni was admitted again a few weeks ago with a recurrence of her chlamydial infection. I was talking with Peter where we cut leaf outside the ICUs on Sunday morning, when suddenly something caught my eye... It was a koala who seemed to be in no particular hurry, but was strolling about the beams near the roof! And, of course, it was Lighthouse Noni!
The doors to each indoor ICU unit are kept shut and latched. During morning cleaning when the volunteer must make multiple trips in and out of the unit (sweeping, mopping, laying towels, laying newspaper, replenishing leaf), the door is usually just pulled closed. This is generally enough to deter *most* koalas. But, Noni, it seemed, had found a new use for her scimitar claws - to prise open her door and escape! Up there for thinking, Noni!
From koalawrangler's gallery.
We haven't had such a wiley escape artist at the Hospital since the likes of O'Briens Fiona (whom we nicknamed "FiFi Houdini") because of her extraordinary number of escape attempts. Here is a bit of a blurry picture of Fiona doing exactly what I suspect Noni must have done - wiggling the door open with her claws!
I reckon that Noni was just checking up on our progress preparing her morning supply of fresh leaf! Peter quickly went and got Noni's pot of nutritional supplement and a ladder. I love the photo below, which looks as though we might have hoped that Noni mind climb down it of her own accord and return to her unit on her own. But, no, Peter trotted up the ladder and got Noni's attention with some food.
From koalawrangler's gallery.
Noni seemed perfectly happy to take the rest of her formula that way. It was like she was saying that her room service was a little late this morning!
Next Peter set about preparing Noni's bag in order to return her to her unit. Each koala has a dedicated bag to prevent any spread of infection between animals.
From koalawrangler's gallery.
Rather than bag her completely, however, Peter just used the bag to prevent Noni from biting him while detaching her. You can see her dangling free as I quickly pocket my camera and set about taking Noni from Peter and returning her to her unit.
Once back under lock and key, I finished feeding Noni her formula and replenished her unit with fresh leaf. She seemed to settle down after that.
Noni's gotten herself quite a reputation in these last few weeks. The other day, she leapt from her gunyah and landed on Peter's feet as he stood in the doorway.
It's obviously become such a common occurrence that Cheyne's put up a warning sign for unsuspecting vollies:
From koalawrangler's gallery.
20 June 2010
Last weekend, I happened to chance upon Emma helping Brooke service Noni's unit. Emma held up a towel to discourage her, but Noni still made a run for it!
The sooner we ship this one out, the sooner we can all rest! Fingers crossed Noni Houdini gets better soon.
Click here to view more snaps of Lighthouse Noni.
Sunday, 6 June 2010
June Gum Tips out now!
Click on the cover above to download (5MB) the latest issue of Gum Tips, the Koala Hospital newsletter!
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