G’day and welcome to June and a slightly quieter month with most of the joeys having returned to the wild – awesome news of course!! In many cases, by the time koalas reach our hospital and are showing visible signs of illness, their condition is advanced and therefore more difficult to treat. While the prognosis for some of our koalas is sadly very poor, we remain committed to giving each one the best possible care. Even in the toughest cases, we focus on hope, healing. It is the small victories that keep our team going every day. Maintaining a positive and proactive approach remains essential to both animal welfare and staff wellbeing.
But first, let’s celebrate the releases!
Releases
We are thrilled that Reef and Wellington were given the all clear for release and are off on their wild adventures – we hope they stay out of trouble!
Fudge
Fudge who is now fifteen months old has gone to soft release yay!! Soft release is a secured area within her home range where Fudge can practice climbing bigger trees. During this time our dedicated rescue team will monitor her closely to make sure she is doing ok and all going well she will be released in approximately two weeks!
Fumie
Five year old Fumie has also gone to soft release! She has not only recovered from her leg injury but her fungal lesions have healed and she is ready to go home! Yay amazing outcome!
Home Care
Quatro
Dinky little Quatro is now six months old and remains in home care with Liz where he continues to do well. He has a way to go but has grown more fur and even has little teeth coming through. He is still enjoying his milk and fresh leaf!
Koala Kindy
Higgins
Higgins has smashed it in kindy! This healthy girl continues to thrive, has been weaned off her milk and loves her fresh tips. At almost 3kg she isn’t far off soft release!!
Koala Care Centre
Husk
Darling Husk show us how challenging it can be to support a koala through treatment and their rehabilitation journey as the infection in his leg has unfortunately persisted. He underwent another round of anaesthetics to flush out his wound and he has a bandage back on his leg and will commence a different antibiotic very soon. This one we are confident will get rid of this nasty infection!
Whiskey
Six year old Whisky is still undergoing antibiotic treatment and eye medication for his chlamydial conjunctivitis. He seems to responding well so fingers crossed for him!
Humphrey
Three year old Humphrey was first sighted a week before his rescue, showing visible signs of chlamydial cystitis including a stained, wet rump. He proved to be a tricky customer – evasive and not easy to catch but we managed to bring him safely to our koala hospital for assessment.
Upon examination, Humphrey was diagnosed with severe chlamydial cystitis, with a significantly thickened bladder. His rump was heavily stained with urine and under anaesthetic, our vet ream gave his rump a thorough clean, where they also discovered ulcerations on his rump.
He was in very poor body condition on arrival so has also been started on supplements – he is in good hands and we are hopeful for a full recovery.
Clark Kent
Four year old Clark Kent was admitted in late May for bilateral chlamydial conjunctivitis. He also has mild anaemia and has been started on antibiotics and eye medications. Fingers crossed for you Clark Kent – we love your name!
Duke
Six year old Duke was very compromised on admission with severe chlamydial cystitis, conjunctivitis and a wound to his front right forelimb, he was also very dehydrated. His hydration has improved with IV fluids but it appears that again Duke has been struggling for quite some time and whilst we will try everything we can to help Duke he unfortunately has a very guarded prognosis.
Storm
Eight year old Storm was spotted in a tree with chlamydial conjunctivitis, he has bilateral conjunctivitis, otitis externa (ear infection) bilateral and mild anaemia. Storm has commenced treatment, which includes antibiotics and eye medications to treat his chlamydia as well as ear ointment to treat his ear infection. Fingers crossed.
If you enjoyed reading this, keep reading and learn even more about koala conservation and how you can help us!
