Koala Hospital

Lookout Harry

So, today was day two at the koala hospital. I've been enjoying myself quite a lot so far. There are two teams of volunteers that come in every day - the morning shift at 7:45am and the afternoon shift at 2:30pm. There are also other volunteers that run the kiosk, take the tours, and do the office work. The only paid employee is Cheyne (pronounced Shane), the vet. There are currently around 20 koalas at the hospital, including 3 permanent residents: Barry, Barbara, and Kaylee. Over my two weeks I should be here to see some koalas come into the hospital and others leave.

I should also get the opportunity to go out on a koala rescue or two, assuming that there are any koalas that need rescuing while I'm here. Judging by the usual number of rescues they do here in the spring, it shouldn't be a problem.

One of the juvenile koalas

Barry gets a lot of special attention because he is quite a special little guy. He spends nights inside in the ICU ward and day time outside in one of the yards. He also gets a supplemental feed of milk formula morning and night because he doesn't digest eucalypt leaves as well as he used to - he is quite an old man, after all. So, I took a video of his afternoon feed this afternoon especially for Tori, as I "adopted" Barry for her on her birthday.

Barry's supplemental feed.