Sunday 26 April 2020

A Rescued Koala


My father emailed me during the week with photos of a koala in his garden. It's been a few years since he's had a koala, and this one wasn't very big, so he assumed it was a young one who had been pushed out by its parents and was establishing a new territory.
 
Jethro the Koala in a garden in Pittsworth, Queensland, Australia.
Photo courtesy of John Walter.

The koala had an ear tag so Dad knew it must be being monitored by local scientists. He asked a few questions in the right places and suddenly the koala had a name and a known history.

It turns out it's a male, about ten years old (so not young at all), very under weight (a score of 4 out of 10 for condition and only weighing 6.3 kg) and had been in the rescue centre with conjunctavitis late last year. He was named Jethro.

Jethro the Koala in a garden in Pittsworth, Queensland, Australia.
Photo courtesy of John Walter.

He had been picked up on the edge of town in the street that runs behind my parent's place by the animal rescue people in October last year and taken to the rescue centre. He was treated for chlamydia, cystitis and conjunctavitis in both eyes, as well as microchipped and given an ear tag. By December he was ready for release and is one of only two koalas out of nine that were taken in for treatment who made it back to their home range. 


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10 comments:

Le Pré de la Forge said...

Hi Jethro!

chm said...

Do we know why he is underweight? Is it because of all his ailments or lack of eucalyptus leaves?

Susan said...

I suspect the underlying cause would be long drought, making his food source less abundant and less nutritious, and leading him to be susceptible to disease.

Susan said...

He says g'day back, obviously.

Jean said...

We enjoyed watching the programme about Longleat which regularly featured their koalas. What delightful animals, so gentle and endearing. Although my personal favourite was the armadillos. I would love to be able to hug both a koala and an armadillo at some point in my life.

Susan said...

You've clearly never lived within sight or earshot of rival male koalas! :-)

JGB said...

Oh, you pretty thing!

Susan said...

They are appealing animals, aren't they?!

Jean said...

I've run the gauntlet of the marauding yobs between the car park and the theatre in town on a Friday night. I imagine rival koalas would be less scary and I definitely know which one I would still like to hug!

Susan said...

LOL. Difficult to know which would be the most likely to wee on you :-)

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