Sooty a few hours after first into careJosie rang me with a koala that had been found on the ground near the Border Ranges National Park. It was very skinny and flat Josie said and its fur looked singed and ears burnt. I had not heard of a fire out that way and was wondering if the ‘singed’ look was like a koala we had seen recently that was covered in severe fungal infections giving it an appearance of having been burnt a few weeks prior.

Josie took the koala into the Care Centre to meet Pat. Pat rang to say – it looks singed and needs to come out to your place.

Pat arrived with this poor koala who had no strength to even sit up, nothing in her stomach, her eyes shut tight with pus from Chlamydial conjunctivitis and yep she was singed from ears to tail and her poor little paws were very sore from having been burnt.

I contemplated what to do with her as she lay motionless on a blanket on the floor. It was outside vet hours so I did not have a local vet to ask for advice.

I left a message at the Australian Wildlife Hospital – a four hour drive away to ask for advice. In the meantime Pat helped me set her up to make her comfortable and do what we could.

We made a nest of towels to prop her up in a basket so she could be in a more normal position. A heap of fluids were run into her under her skin slowly through a drip line. The pus was cleaned from her eyes. What an amazing experience it always is to clean a koala’s eye and watch them gain their sight again. She was given pain relief and the best bunch of leaf tip we could find.

Sitting up in her basket she looked a different koala as the fluids did their work. It was not long before she started to munch on some leaf.

One of the vets from AWH rang back to give the recommended antibiotic for the burns so medications could be started while we organised for a trip to get her up there for a full veterinary assessment.

That night I bathed her burnt hands which she seemed to like and picked her another bunch of leaf which she was now hungrily eating. Her improvement in such a short time was quite dramatic and I was beginning to have hope for this girl who had arrived in such a heap. I was cursing how horrible it would be if after all this she had cysts. Cysts are a complication that female koala have from reproductive chlamdia. In most cases we only know the girls have them from an ultrasound. The cysts grow on their ovaries making them infertile and play a role in spreading disease. At present this condition is incurable and as a group we are required to euthanse any koalas with cysts.

In the meantime we found out the history of her burns. There had been a controlled burnoff in the area three weeks prior. As this was the only burn in the area we can only assume she had been injured then. She was now in this state as it would have been difficult for her to find food. Luckily she had not been burnt badly and it did not look like any of her wounds were infected. She is a tough little girl.

Sooty was transferred to the Australian Wildlife Hospital for a full checkup. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!! – no cysts.

A couple of weeks later after continual good progress she was returned to the Care Centre to finish her treatments for Chlamydia and get her ready for release.

Sooty in the Care CentreAs I write she is still in the Care Centre. Her treatments have finished. She responded well and no longer has any clinical signs of disease. Her fur is still quite singed – that will take a while to grow back. She will probably lose a couple of her nails as the damage to her nail beds from the fire will prevent them regrowing however she has enough to climb well. Her body condition is much improved but she still has a little way to go her before we can release her. The supplement she receives each day, which she loves, will help with this.

I am sure it will not be long till Sooty returns back where she belongs.

Submitted by Barb Dobner