Koala cuddles

August 25th, 2016

September is Save The Koala month, a time to celebrate and promote awareness about our beloved furry friend.

Koalas in the bush face numerous challenges such as the removal of native vegetation, land clearing due to housing development and chlamydia.

Koala handler Kerry Bebbington at Gorge Wildlife Park in Cudlee Creek, said koalas in the area don't have a high rate of chlamydia but housing development remains a major issue.

Gorge Wildlife Park strives to provide their koalas with a natural environment which includes large gum trees with fresh leaves replaced every day and plenty of shade from the summer heat.

“They do like to go on the ground and eat a bit of dirt or bark because that is good culture for their stomach,” Kerry said.

Kerry has been a koala handler for 11 years and her daily work requires checking on the koalas to ensure they are happy and healthy.

“We clean their area in the morning and re-vegetate the outside where people can take photos. We check all our other koalas and at the moment we do have young koalas,” Kerry said.

“It's good when our koalas have joeys and we see our mothers raise them so we can take out them to the public. Hand raising is also really special.”

Gorge Wildlife Park is one of the few places in South Australia where you can actually cuddle a koala. They come out every day for holding at 11.30am, 1.30pm and 3.30pm.

During the month of September you will be able to hold a koala as usual, but make sure to donate to the Australian Koala Foundation.

There will be collection boxes for the non-for-profit organisation in the Gorge Wildlife Park shop to help preserve the future of the koala.

Another non-for-profit organisation helping to save koalas is the Adelaide Koala and Wildlife Hospital at Plympton, offering free emergency services including treatment, rehabilitation and the release of injured or orphaned wildlife.

The hospital has been running for two and a half years and during that time they have seen over 19,000 patients and also participate in educational programs for students and the public.

Hospital founder Rae Campbell said they commonly see koalas attacked by dogs which can be fatal because koalas have little to no fat under their skin to protect their internal organs from damage.

Another issue for koalas, particularly in the Adelaide Hills, is death and injury from being hit by cars on the free-way.

“Many of the koalas we see, and their orphaned babies, are being hit by cars. There are five to seven koalas killed on the way to the Stirling turn-off every week,” Rae said.

It is important to remember that we are living in the koalas' habitat.

“I think the government is quite wrong saying there are too many koalas. They are forgetting that the koalas are coming into the suburban area because we're taking away their habitat,” Rae said.

“We are in the middle of breeding season, from August to February and in September some hills residents start to complain about the noise.”

“People have to realise the koalas are not in their backyards, they are in the koalas' backyard.”


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