Hotline roster had finished at midday, so at 3pm last Sunday when the phone rang, I wasn’t expecting what I heard. It was my old mate Neville. He doesn’t bother to ring the Wildlife Cares or Friends of the Koala if he needs to. He just rings me or Karen.

‘Chris? My boy has just brought in a six inch koala from the macadamia plantation he was working on. It was pretty cold when he got it here, but I’ve got it wrapped up in an old towel.’
    
Neville has worked with animals all his life. I told him it needed warming up and suggested that he use a wrapped plastic bottle of warm water. He said, or should I say, bellowed, because he’s very deaf:

‘No. I’ll sit by the heater with it till you come.’ No problem. Neville’s place is like a furnace when he has the heater on.

So the learner driver and I got ready. I found my special koala loppers & cut some leaf for comfort; tipped out the cane knitting basket; finally realized why I was hanging onto the shocking pink bear with ‘Best Mum’ on it (perfect for a little koala to cuddle); found a couple of plastic bottles & put tap hot water in them; collected some wallaby pouches; packet the basket with towel & bottles and pouches with the bear in the middle and off we set.

Neville was waiting at his door as we pulled up. I had a quick look at the little koala. Yes, it was very small, looked like a girl, not a good coat on her at all. Neville said that she was much more lively than when he first got her. I told him that this was because she was warming up. I transferred her out of the towel (it was so filthy, Barb the coordinator would have had a fit), putting her hands around the toy bear, then quickly popped her and the bear into the layers of pouches. Then I put a big bunch of gum leaf tips, held together like a bouquet with an elastic band, over the basket. Neville was keen to give her something to drink, but I told him that we needed to warm her up properly first, because she couldn’t digest anything if she was cold. In any case, I didn’t have any koala teats.

Off we set.

I tried to get Barb, but she wasn’t home & I didn’t have her mobile. Oh dear! So I left a message with the hotline and said that we would take the little koala home and keep her warm. She seemed to go off to sleep, so we left her quietly in her pouches. The TV was off, the house was quiet, my daughter was reading, so, having filled a hotwater bottle, I asked her if she would like to hold the little koala on her lap. No problem!

In the meantime, I contacted Barb. We met in Lismore and the little koala was handed over. She was much more animated, though very thin and with an empty tummy.

This all happened a mere one and a half hours after she ran up to a man working in a macadamia orchard.

Barb said that her Mum must be close by and was probably very sick. A koala this small couldn’t have gone far. I tried ringing Neville, but an atomic bomb is about all he can hear. So the following day, I dropped around and we took off on a rescue mission. However, we couldn’t find his son, so I had to check with him that night. No, there was no sign of the mother – he had had a careful look once he returned to work after dropping her off at Neville’s place.

She weighed 675g. Very tiny, but Barb was happy with her. She was already eating leaf tips and improving. Her name is Little Miss Sunshine. We wish her the best and hope the rest of her life is better than it has been.

Submitted by rescuer Chris Borthistle

To view a video on YouTube of Miss Sunshine eating leaf click here.

To offer financial support for Little Miss Sunshine or other koalas like here in order to assist with the costs of her care - click here.