Matilda died on 23rd April 2009. It’s been really hard thing to talk about and has taken me a long time to talk about her death. She died pretty quickly. The night before she died she was acting a bit odd, wasn’t drinking very well and in the morning she was making a pain kind of noise. So I brought her in on my day off and Lynley (one of the vets) operated on her straight away.

Matilda had a torsion (a twist in her gut). She died during the operation, they brought her back the first time but the second time they couldn’t bring her back. It’s a high risk operation, especially as she was so small, it’s very tender area and it’s hard to monitor koalas under anesthetic.

A small number of Victorian Koalas were introduced into South Australia because our koala was wiped out. Researchers think it is causing issues in the wild, like liver issues, because they are all related to each other. Matilda had liver problems, which may have contributed to her decline as it meant she was in pain and couldn’t eat properly, so her gut was affected because her food wasn’t going down like it should be.

It was a stressful time when she was sick, but when I hand raise animals I’m pretty calm as you never know what’s going to happen. Sometimes you expect the worse. When Matilda got sick I thought there was a good chance she wouldn’t survive, but was hoping for the best. I find if you’re stressful the animals pick up on it so I tend to go with the flow rather than worry or thinking about what could happen.

Matilda was a lot different to any other animal I’ve hand raised (I’ve hand raised a lot of other animals such as possums, bettongs, kangaroos and warrus). Matilda was more like a baby, she needed constant cuddles and attention, reached out for you like a child, she’d call and cry, all those sort of things. I kind of miss that sort of thing though. She was very playful as well when she was healthy, like running around the lounge area and up a branch. She had a lot of character and was very strong willed, and I thought she would be strong enough because of that.

Koalas are one of the hardest animals to hand raise. We find that koalas that have been hit by car or attacked by dogs are usually stronger than those that have been abandoned. Matilda’s mum was hit by a car but when she came here she looked older than her weight, meaning we weren’t sure exactly how old she was.

It was really sad but Matilda was a great koala.


Liza

G'day this is Wayne Boardman, Head of Veterinary Conservation Programs at Zoos South Australia.

Just back from a conference on the Gold Coast – the Australasian Regional Association of Zoo Parks and Aquaria or ARAZPA, where amongst other things I gave a talk on some field work we undertook at Scotia in NSW health checking one of Australias more endangered species of wallaby, the Bridled Nailtail Wallaby.

Lola was a juvenile Victorian Koala that came into our care on 4th January 2008 from Cleland Wildlife Park.

The history of her mother was not known, but she was handed in as an orphan in quite a sorry state.  She was only just furry, dehydrated and very listless. From her weight, we were estimating Lola to be about 6 months old and definitely unable to look after herself.

Initially Lola was given intensive ‘round the clock’ care, but after a few days she started drinking milk and settled into the family very well. Little did we know that in a few months she would take over and have everyone in the household completely smitten.

As Lola grew she became an excellent ambassador for wildlife, both at home and here at the zoo. She educated many people, adults and children alike, on looking after our native animals.

I used to think koalas were fairly docile, inactive animals that just ate gum and slept. Now I know the truth... they are fun, playful, excitable, stubborn and independent. They love a bit of exercise at dusk and a big hug in the morning.

by Beck Probert, Vet Nurse at Zoos SA and one of Lola's "mums"