Skye and ElkThe story of Elk is a long one. His mother is Skye a koala who has been in care for sometime. Elk was conceived while she was in care (we are not exactly sure how that happened).

His life has already been eventful. When he was furred we knew he should have been starting to emerge from the pouch but so far any glimpses of this happening had eluded his carer. Concerns were raised and a trip to the Australian Wildlife Hospital was organised to check out if there were any problems. There were - Skyes pouch opening was not big enough for him to get out. Without and operation he would be stuck in there.

A quick procedure and out came Elks head - a much better fit. His carer was still worried for a while because we were not sure how this extra time in the pouch would effect him. Also his mother has problems which is while she is still in care so this was an extra concern.

It is now nearly 18months since first noticing the small bump in Skyes pouch and Elk is going well. He is now over 3.6kg. He had a natural weaning from his mother and is now living in a large pre release enclosure. He is close to being released back to the wild however he still likes to know his mother is still around so his carer is waiting until he is fully independant before he is let go.

If you would like to Support Elk, find out more about his story and help other koalas return to the wild, Click here to download a form to print out and post in.

To Support Elk online, Click here, follow the prompts and put Elks name in as koala of your choice.