Quarterly Magazine of the Koala Hospital Port Macquarie 3rd Quarter 2016 C.gattii in biopsy of diseased tissue, fine needle aspirates and blood samples. Swabbing of the nasal area is not a suitable diagnostic tool as the nasal cavity of koalas is commonly colonised with C.gattii. Treating the koala patient also depends on the extent of invasion of the organism, age of the animal, physical condition, whether meningoencephalitis is present, and how the kidneys and liver are functioning. This disease can be treated in suitable patients but it is very long term and very expensive. It is worth noting that this is not considered a zoonotic disease (transferred from animals to humans). n late July this female koala was transferred to us from As HKPS Jo Lo has a very low reading the Hunter Koala Preservation Society (located two hours of Crypto and with all other factors south of Port Macquarie). Jo Lo was found to be positive appearing to be ok – it looks like Jo Lo I for a fungal infection called Cryptococcis which in koalas will be with us for quite a while. can take many months of treatment to be cleared. As HKPS members do all of their caring of sick and injured koalas in private homes, holding a koala long term can create a lot of pressure on available space for other patients, so we are always happy to help them out. Cryptococcis is caused by the fungus Cryptococcus gattii which is found in association with a number of species of eucalypts, and other tree species and is found throughout the environment. Many koala enclosures found in both zoo’s and in private koala rehabilitation facilities are contaminated with the fungus and in the main do not cause any problem. Most wild koalas have come into contact with this fungus at some point in their lives with no ill effects. Why some koalas contract disease from this organism is unknown and the University of Sydney is currently researching this phenomenon. Koalas usually present with a swelling on the side of the face or nasal area accompanied with a discharge from the nose. Sometimes koalas can have skin lesions of the lips, ear and feet, others clinically can show generalised enlarged lymph nodes, neurological effects, blindness etc. A recent patient presented with quite a dramatic lesion on the leg which was not treatable. Diagnosis of Cryptococcis is based on positive identification of the causative organism HKPS JoLo adjusting to her new surroundings. Gum Tips Page 2 Koalas and Joeys! recent visit to the Joey’s House Early This was followed by an interesting information Education Centre in Port Macquarie by and question time with the children and all the Koala Hospital Education Co-ordinator children were given a koala stamp on their hand Jennifer Baker saw a very rapt and an that they could show their parents on their arrival A at home. extremely interested audience of the gathered pre school children. The Koala Hospital is available for Educational visits to schools and pre schools in the local area, just contact the hospital on 6584 1522 and ask for the Education Co-ordinator to get information and organise a visit. The Koala Hospital received a nice surprise at the end of the visit with a donation of over $200 for the hospital with 4 adoptions being taken up on the day. And a big thank you to the Joey’s House Early Education Centre and to all the children for the interest and excitement shown during our visit. An interested audience for some Koala information The children were given a Koala presentation that included a short video of Barrington Xavier, assorted koala photos and a variety of different gum leaves that form the staple diet of koalas. Even some poo pellets and a toy koala in the rescue basket. Above: A surprised Jennifer Baker being presented with the donation in excess of $200 for koala adoptions. Left: A koala stamp to denote a very interested audience member at Joey’s Early Education Centre. What’s inside HKPS Jo Lo……….......................................................2 Koalas and Joeys…………….......................................3 Help keep our Koalas Rescuing and Releasing Koalas .............................. 4-5 Clinical Directors Report ............................................. 6 in Good Hands! Being a Joey Carer ..................................................... 6 Presidents Report ....................................................... 7 The Koala Preservation Society will gratefully Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down ........................................ 7 accept bequests to help insure the continued Barry’s Adventures in Wanderland .......................... 8-9 work of the society. You can log on to our Government Koala Roundtable ................................ 10 website, click on the Act Now section on the Kaylee’s Gum Drops ................................................. 11 front page and read all the information under Essential Coffee Group Thank You .......................... 11 the Bequest heading. Hospital Report .................................................... 12-13 Being a Joey Carer ................................................... 13 Make a commitment to protect an Contact Details ......................................................... 14 endangered and unique Australian icon What’s happening at the Hospital? ........................... 15 Gumtree Gallery ....................................................... 16 Gum Tips Page 3 Rescuing and Releasing Koalas any people often ask us how on earth difficult at times to rescue. The Koala Hospital we manage to get sick or injured has a specially trained team of rescue people koalas out of huge eucalypt trees. Do (who even go out in the wee small hours on cold M we climb the trees they ask? No we and frosty nights) who have learned at times to don’t! Koalas can negotiate their way around the use this nimble koala behaviour to their lofty branches many metres high up with great advantage. skill and ease, often precariously hanging from what seems to be the thinnest most fragile The rescuers equipment consists of one or two branches possible. long extendable poles (depending on how many rescuers are available at the time) with a floppy This inbuilt behaviour often makes koalas very towel attached on the end of the pole. This method usually requires another person standing at the base of the tree with a big thick canvas bag at the ready to grab and enclose the koala. Once all the rescuers and equipment are in their place the extended pole with its “scary” end is placed above the head of the koala. The natural mode of defence for the koala is to move away from this quite odd object as quickly as possible, and all being well, they then shoot down the tree as quickly as they can – and with luck straight into the hands of the rescuer with the bag. Of course, this is the “text book” rescuing effort in action, and the vast majority of rescues do not go as planned. Koalas can often outsmart the team of rescuers by jumping so easily A demonstration of capturing a koala using the extendable poles (one pole bringing the koala down and one pole from branch to blocking access to side branches), a hoop net for difficult catches and the canvas bag for capturing the koala. branch, and as the Gum Tips Page 4 Rescuing and Releasing Koalas extended poles are cumbersome and heavy, by onlookers, never when you are alone!! And in the time the poles are repositioned the koala those cases embarrassment rates very highly for leads the rescuers on a merry chase. Or even the poor rescuers. worse, they manage to climb so high that they are beyond pole reach. Here is where the Koala Releasing koalas – is basically the foundation of Hospital presses on the kind services of our local why we are here at the Koala Hospital. Adult tree arborist who arrives with their “cherry koalas are always released back where they picker” (a hydraulic tower and bucket) that sends were initially collected (within reason), and only a worker and rescuer up very high and the koala young sub adult animals are released into new is often retrieved successfully this way. uninhabited locations. The happy volunteer takes Alternatively one of the arborists will climb an the ready to be released bagged koala to the adjacent tree and using the flag and pole base of the most beautiful healthy delicious technique send the koala down to us. Koalas who looking eucalypt tree, and opens the bag, and are injured or sick sitting high up in a tree tend swells with pride at releasing this rehabilitated not want to move at all, so again it’s a “cherry koala back to a good tree. So what does the picker” or tree climber to literally bag the koala for koala do? It usually sniffs at this healthy beautiful us (they have been well trained!). tree, and runs off about 50 metres away and shoots up a tree that has the most terrible leaf, Sometimes the koala gets too stressed by the covered in dead branches, and looks like its whole situation, or is beyond anyone’s reach. ready for the scrap heap. We are still trying to The Koala Hospital a number of years ago fathom koala psychology on this one, but would adopted a magic invention “the koala trap”, which hazard a guess that the previous occupant of the is a fence made of corflute sheeting (real estate tree left some form of calling card (scent sign material) and a footplate trap set up in one marking), that warns the newly released koala to panel. The trap works extremely well, but is “go elsewhere”. limited by the understory vegetation surrounding the tree in question plus how close the Wild koalas have been found in some odd places associated trees are located. This trap has about such as top floors of three storey carparks, an 80% success rate of capture, with patience escalators in shopping centres, sitting on fuel being a strong virtue also employed.