Is it my turn yet?

by Sue Johnson

We had not even touched down in Australia after an overdue holiday before Barb Dobner was asking about our availability to take some koalas into care. “Sure,” I emailed from Athens, “when we get back, especially if it is baby Phil.”

“How about four?” was the reply from Barb.

“Four! Two is enough!”

Negotiations took place and we split the difference! That’s how joeys Phil, Gillian and Andrew came into our care.

Phil was a Burringbar boy that had been rescued in June. His mother had been the victim of a hit-and-run on Tweed Valley Way, taken to King Street Vets in Murwillumbah by a passing motorist, joey in pouch. Vet Phil Taragel tried to stabilise the mother, at least until a carer could come to deal with the joey. That was me, and I got to the vets just as the mother died. I called the joey Phil.

Phil only stayed with me one night, the next day going to an experienced ‘joey-raiser’, Claire from Toowoomba. He was raised with another joey called Gillian.

Gillian was found on the ground, her mother nearby but making no attempt to reunite with her joey. It was a very cold night, so Gillian was brought into care, a vet assessment finding she Gillian had pneumonia and a dislocated hip.

I collected Phil and Gillian from Claire in November, both strong and healthy, and ready to go into our large outdoor enclosure. They weighed around 2 kilos each, with Gillian being a little bit bigger than Phil who was a small fellow for his age (and a bit of a sook, according to Claire).

At the same time I collected a third joey Andrew.

The three joeys not only had to adapt to a new carer, in a new environment, but to other koalas they hadn’t been used to. They did so magnificently. Even Andrew! He had been older when he came into care and was being cared for on his own. He had not been used to having to compete with others, but you wouldn’t have known it.

Within a few feeds, all three were into an orderly routine, had formed different alliances and worked out roles – the boys liked to have a bit of a play, whereas Gillian was the one they cuddled up to, like a big sister. They had selected their favourite sleeping positions on a particular fork and, if one of the others tries to take their spot, they get nudged out to their own spot.

I had been dreading milk feed times – how do you bottle-feed three hungry joeys, all wanting their milk at the same time? I need not have worried. Phil, Gillian and Andrew quickly worked out which position was theirs on the feeding fork and waited patiently for their turn at being fed.

A month later and the joeys are growing fast. Gillian is already 3 kilos, and is almost weaned. She manages to weasel a bit of milk out of me still, however. At feed times she comes down with the boys, awaiting her turn, with her little pink tongue darting in and out in a mock licking motion. How can you not give her a little, at least until the boys are weaned too?

The three joeys will remain with me until February, when they should be ready to go to their pre-release site at Barkers Vale.